Your Slave
by Eamane SHU
Summary: We are defined by the choices that we make in life. What happens when you slip up and make the wrong choice? AU: Sarah made the wrong choice.
1. Default Chapter

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your _slave_."

He held the crystal out to her. It was balanced perfectly on his long gloved fingers. Sarah didn't know what to do. She couldn't remember the line, that all-important line, the line that would end this, returning her and her brother to their home. Life would get better, she would come to care about Toby more, she would be less self-centred and as a result of this, her relationship with Karen would improve. She would get older, finish high-school, go to college, meet someone, get married, have children of her own. It all hung in the balance, as did Toby's future, which hadn't even been written yet. All she had to do was remember six tiny words.

But she couldn't, try as she may they wouldn't come to her. They were just out of reach. She could practically feel them brushing underneath her fingertips, if she could just reach out and grab them, this whole adventure, _this nightmare_ would be over. But, no matter how hard she tried they wouldn't come to her, they just slipped through her fingers like water. She was running out of options, Toby was nowhere to be seen. The Goblin King was standing before her, smiling as he offered her the world, and at that moment she didn't know what to do.

They say life is like a journey and the destination isn't important, it's how you get there that counts. In some ways the labyrinth is a metaphor for this, the endless twists and turns. And it's not the castle that counts, but what you learn on the way to the castle. In the last thirteen hours Sarah had learnt many things, things aren't always seen, you can't change things around you, and you're nothing without your friends. But back to the point, if life is a journey, destiny is the path you walk on, the road you tread. It's a one way street and you have to choose which pathways to take. Sarah made her choice. It was simple really; she had tried her best, given everything that she had got.

She took the crystal.

She reached out and took the shimmering orb from where it lay, offered in his gloved hand. She gazed at it, transfixed. Inside she could see movement, swirls of bright colours which moved round and round and round. On closer inspection, they were revealed to be dancers. Couples moving in an elegant waltz, women dressed up in fantastic gowns, their partners, straight-backed and obviously handsome under their masks. They were dancing, happily, to music that Sarah, on the outside looking in couldn't hear. In the centre she could see herself dancing, her dark hair caught up in an elaborate web of silver flowers. Her dress, a beautiful silver confection with puffed sleeves and a full skirt spreading out around her. She was dancing elegantly, flirting confidently, glancing down demurely and laughing provocatively. Her partner, handsome, regal and grinning wickedly, the Goblin King.

Sarah looked up to where he stood before her; he was watching the scene in the crystal with keen interest. She met his eyes and a triumphant grin spread across his face. She considered hurling the crystal back at him with all her might, anything to wipe that smug look off his face. But it was too late. He had won.

Somewhere in the distance a clock started to strike the hour, it's ringing haunted Sarah for the rest of her days. Thirteen chimes. She could hear the Goblin King's earlier words sounding out in her head _"You have thirteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us forever."_

"Such a pity" a voice jolted her out of her thoughts. The Goblin King was smirking as he spoke. The sheer amusement in his eyes scared Sarah more than her entire situation did. "Well come along then" he held his hand out to her "I wont bite" he grinned, seeing the apprehensive look on her face. Sarah didn't trust him for a second, but seeing no feasible alternative, there was no way off the platform, and she didn't fancy jumping into the abyss surrounding it, though the thought did pass through her mind in a fleeting moment of madness. Not knowing what else to do, she slipped her small hand into his larger leather-clad one.

The world just faded away, and darkness swirled before her, if the Goblin King hadn't been holding her so tightly she surely would have stumbled and fallen. Then as fast as the world had faded away it came back. But they were no longer standing on the platform that Sarah had jumped to in a desperate attempt to reach her baby brother; they were now standing in the throne room of the Castle beyond the Goblin City. However, unlike when Sarah had passed through it only minutes before, it was no longer empty. Now it was full of goblins. Just about every goblin from the city had crammed themselves into the room. They were seated on shelves and window-sills; they had perched on ledges and oddly shaped stones which jutted out of the walls. And hundreds of them had squeezed themselves onto the floor of the main hall, and they were all squabbling, seeming to bicker, those with good places to sit were often rudely shoved away, in order for another goblin to take their place, they seemed to be fighting for the best spots in the room. The only place that the goblins didn't occupy was the throne, where a blonde woman, dressed in white Grecian robes was lounging elegantly, and the lowered circle of floor in the centre of the room which they were all staring at excitedly. In the centre of the circle, sitting on a pile of dirty cushions and old rags was a baby dressed in a red and white striped romper suit. It was Toby.

"Toby!" called Sarah anxiously, much to the amusement of all who surrounded her. She tried to get to her brother, but was roughly stopped by a dozen sturdily built goblin guards who held her back roughly.

"Toby!" she called again, shaking her shoulders violently as she tried to brake free, but it was no use, she couldn't get to her little brother, who scared by all the commotion had begun to wail. Sarah forced herself to relax as she realised that all her panic and struggles were getting her nowhere, and her wrists were hurting from the goblins' tight grip. She looked around the room, her eyes searching desperately, hunting for something, anything, she could use to make her escape and rescue Toby. There were two swords crossed over a shield, hung as some form of decoration on the other side of the room, the steel glistening in the moonlight that was coming in from the open windows, they looked sharp, and even if they weren't Sarah was willing to bet she could still do a fair amount of damage with them. If she could only make her way to the opposite wall, she could probably fight her way through the goblins, as most of them seemed to be unarmed, and from what she had seen of them in the city they seemed fairly incompetent. And Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus couldn't be that far away, they would surely come if she called. As she formed her exit strategy only one obstacle stood between her and her goal of freedom. The Goblin King. There was no way he was just going to let her and Toby go, the thought of having to fight her way past the terrifying Goblin King made Sarah shiver involuntarily, causing one of the goblins to cackle nastily.

Sarah looked at the goblins in the room; they had all settled down now and were staring at their King. The expressions on their faces turned Sarah's blood to ice, they were waiting for something, they were silently willing their King to start, and they kept glancing at Toby excitedly, almost baying for blood.

Sarah turned to look at the Goblin King; he was engaged in conversation with the woman sitting on his throne. Sarah couldn't hear their entire conversation, but she kept picking up snippets.

"You won! Now claim your prize." The woman stared at Jareth expectantly before glancing at Sarah.

When Sarah met the mis-matched eyes of the woman's gaze the hairs on the back of her neck stood up uncomfortably. Then the woman returned her attention to Toby and Sarah let out a sigh of relief that she didn't even know she was holding.

She looked at the King now, he was lounging regally, still wearing his cloak that was the colour of feathers, he was heart-breakingly beautiful with his pale skin and features that were simply inhuman, he looked too perfect, almost as if he wasn't real. The only part of him Sarah could find fault with was his eyes, his haunting mis-matched eyes, one brown, one a deep blue. It is often said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and if you want to see a person's innermost nature to look into their eyes, the Goblin King had cruel eyes. He was casually tossing a crystal in the air before catching it again, he looked relaxed, almost cheerful. He caught the crystal one final time in his gloved hand before hurling it with all his might at the wailing infant.

"Toby!" she shrieked trying as hard as she could to break free again.

The crystal smashed into a thousand pieces at the infant's feet. From the shards a bright white light came, faint at first then brighter and brighter until it became so strong that Sarah, and all the other inhabitants of the room had to shield their eyes. Then it went dark, it took a few moments for Sarah's eyes to adjust to the absence of the searing, skull-splitting light. Toby's scared wails had now turned into painful screams which cut Sarah to the soul. For years to come when she was alone in the dark she would hear her baby brother's agonizing screams.

Before her eyes Toby was changing, his squat, round babyish fingers were becoming longer, knarled and fatter, his thin arms were also becoming chunkier, she could see the skin and the flesh under it stretching unnaturally. Sarah watched, transfixed as his face began to change. It was like something out of a nightmare, deformed and very very wrong. Dark frizzy hair grew where he had once been almost bald, his brow was becoming furrowed and creased, it was shortening as well, so his new hair now reached his fat, squat nose. His skin, all over was now a blotchy-grey colour, not the natural peach tones that had been there before, gone were his rosy lips and cheeks, his beautiful blue eyes. All that remained now were his new grotesque goblin features. There was a loud crack as his posture began to alter, he began to hunch as his shoulders rounded and his spine curled.

As the transformation finished the wind started, coming from the pit where Toby was still screaming, and it was blowing violently around the room. Sarah's hair was now whipping round her face ferociously, stinging her cheeks and her eyes were streaming. She brought one hand up to protect her face, like she had thirteen hours ago when the Goblin King had first entered her parent's bedroom. She closed her eyes, praying that it would all be over soon. Then as suddenly as the wind had started it stopped. There was silence. Sarah opened her eyes slowly, not quite knowing what to expect. There was no longer a baby standing in the centre of the room, there was a small goblin, who was gibbering inanely to himself.

Toby.

"Oh my God!" Sarah whispered to herself, a stricken expression on her face. She looked over at the monstrosity that had formerly been her brother.

This was all her fault.

Her stomach started to heave and there was the taste of bile in her mouth. Sarah only just had time to turn away before she was sick on the castle's stone floor. She felt slightly better now and she straightened herself up, wiping away the sweaty hair that was plastered to her face and looked over at the King of the Goblins.

"Could somebody please clear that up?" he instructed, his voice ringing out across the room, as he looked at Sarah distastefully. A small female goblin hurried off, then reappeared a few moments later with a mop and bucket, soon the mess had disappeared.

Sarah looked over to the pit in the centre of the room where the goblin, formerly her little brother Toby had been sitting, but, to Sarah's dismay he was gone, leaving only a pile of rags, and his red and white striped romper suit, which had been left in tatters after the transformation. Sarah scanned the room urgently, though she couldn't see him. The goblins, who were all starting to slowly filter out the rooms in all directions, all looked the same to the untrained eye, rather like penguins, her mind added with an insane little giggle.

Focus Sarah! She told herself, now was not the time to fall to pieces. She could do that later, in the meantime she had to find her little brother and there was only one person, if indeed he was a person, that could help her with that task.

"Where did he go?" she asked the Goblin King, her voice sounding braver than she felt.

"Where did who go?" he replied absently with an evil grin.

"My brother" she replied evenly, she wasn't going to rise to his taunts.

"The baby?" he seemed to be having fun.

"Yes."

"The one that was in the centre of the room?"

"Yes."

"The one that I just turned into the Goblin" he was rubbing salt into it now.

"Yes" she replied exasperatedly.

"Well let me see" he tapped his long gloved fingers against his chin in a show of looking thoughtful. "Oh yes. I remember now… hmmm… or was that Crick?...No, it was definitely your little brother. I named him Jareth you know?" he remarked casually, "has my eyes. One of the others gave him some new clothes, couldn't walk around all day in those rags you see." He paused watching Sarah's discomfort "Then they went out into the city."

Sarah groaned inwardly, there were literally hundreds upon hundreds of residents in the Goblin City, there was no way she would be able to find him.

"Well," said the Goblin King "much as I was enjoying your company and really Sarah you have been quite entertaining. I have other, more pressing matters to attend to. I will decide what I am going to do with you in the morning. In the meantime I have found you some more than suitable accommodation." He blew her a kiss with a smirk as Sarah realised where she was going.

The oubliette.

"Guards" he beckoned with a gloved hand and half a dozen goblin guards, all dressed in comically small uniforms started trying to drag her off. She thrashed, she kicked, she screamed, she even tried biting, but learnt that with the average goblin's hygiene habits this was not to be recommended. Being taken to the oubliette scared Sarah, it filled her with a sense of dread that she hadn't felt all day. The oubliette, a little place to put somebody when you wanted to forget about them. And with the fickleness of the Goblin King's mind Sarah had no doubt that it would be easy for him to do.

A blunt force hit Sarah's legs, making her fall to her knees with a cry of pain. Immediately she was inundated with goblins, they grabbed her arms and forced her backwards until she was lying on her back, arms pinned to her sides. Four goblins on either side of her picked her up roughly and started carrying her towards the door as she thrashed wildly, trying to break loose.

"Get off me!" she yelled angrily as her foot connected with a goblin's helmet with a satisfying crunch. But it was no use, she felt more hands grabbing her until she was completely pinned, unable to get free. She could feel them moving now, carrying her off. Within moments they had left the throne room, bumping Sarah's head, on the way out, hard enough that she saw stars. They went down a flight of steps and then through a maze of twists and turns leading deeper and deeper into the heart of the castle. Sarah soon lost all sense of direction, not that it matters though, she thought to herself, she couldn't get out of an oubliette on her own anyway. Until they reached the opening five minutes later Sarah amused herself, trying desperately not to think of Toby so she wouldn't break down in tears, by looking at the patterns on the ornate ceilings of the Goblin King's castle.

Suddenly she felt herself stop, there was a yammering coming from the goblins but she couldn't work out what they were saying. She started to be tilted slightly, she looked over in that direction and they were moving her towards a hole in the castle floor which was covered by a rusty iron grate, behind it was so dark that it looked like black velvet, she could see nothing down there and there was no way she could tell how deep the hole went. An image of a bottomless-pit came into her mind with a swell of panic. She could be falling forever. She put every scarp of energy that she had in her reserves into trying to break free, but it was no use, there was too many of them and they were holding her too tightly.

She heard a scraping noise as the grate was pulled aside. Without further ado and without ceremony she was tossed into the darkness.

She landed on her front, knocking the wind out of her lungs, rattling her teeth, grazing her chin and elbows and bruising her ribs. In retrospect Sarah considered herself very lucky that she hadn't sustained any further injuries from the fall, however in the meantime she closed her eyes and groaned. Her entire body ached all over from where she had hit the stone floor, she had only dropped just over eight feet, but it still hurt like hell. She heard another scraping, signifying that the grate had been put back into place. Sarah ruled out any attempts to climb back up, that way out was for now blocked. She sat up gingerly and looked at her injuries, there was nothing that was going to kill her so she got up and looked around. She needn't have bothered, there was no point as it was so dark she couldn't see a thing. Using her hands to grope around she came to the conclusion that, like the last oubliette she had been in it was round, and that, like the last oubliette she had been in the only way she could get herself in or out was through the hole in the top.

She wasn't worried though, by now word of what had happened would have reached her friends. They would soon figure out where she had been put and that she needed their help. Hoggle would appear, like last time and light a candle, show her the door that leads out and they would be on their way. Off to rescue Toby, they would find a way to turn him back, then a way to get home, everything would be fine. So she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Sarah had been sitting in the oubliette for nearly four hours when is dawned on her, she realised that nobody was coming for her. The realisation stabbed her like a knife, and tears started rolling down her cheeks and once she had started she couldn't get them to stop, her head sank down onto her knees and she wept.

She cried for Toby and what she had done to him, she cried for her friends, who weren't coming to rescue her, she cried for her parents who had now lost both their children and she cried for herself, for making one stupid tiny little wish that she would regret forever.

Eventually she ran out of tears, she wiped her eyes and began to feel a bit better. She decided that she wasn't going to wait to be rescued; she was going to get herself out of this hole. She started exploring; using her hands to find her way around, praying that there weren't any spiders or rats or anything worse lurking in the darkness. She shuddered at the thought but continued searching.

Against the far wall she found something of interest, her foot connected with it first, knocking a pile of things over with a clatter. She knelt down slowly and groped along the floor, carefully hunting for what she had heard fall. Eventually she put her hands on it. It was about two feet in length and about an inch thick and it was quite rounded. She ran her fingers along it curiously, it was very smooth, like a sanded off piece of wood, but it was too cool to be made out of stone. She ran her fingers to each end, there were funny sorts of knobbles. Maybe it was a weapon of some sort she thought to herself.

She ran her hands over it once more, then suddenly dropped it with a scream and stepped back quickly.

It was a human bone.

She had just found the remains of the former inhabitant of the oubliette. He had been thrown in by the Goblin King seventy five years previously, as a temporary measure, until he was forgotten about. He had survived for a while by drinking water that trickled in through one of the walls, however since then the leak had been plugged, so Sarah would not have that opportunity. He died forty-nine days later, raving mad having been driven to lunacy through hunger and from the oppressive darkness.

Panic welled up in Sarah uncontrollably, she didn't want to die like this, she didn't want to share this poor corpse's fate.

"Let me out of here!" She screamed beating her fists against the stone wall. "Can anybody hear me? Hello?" She continued like this for some time, but all it achieved was a pair of bloody knuckles and a sore throat.

There was no answer from the world above. She decided to be practical, she'd been up all day, then she'd been running around in the god-forsaken hell-hole, that was more commonly known as the labyrinth for over thirteen hours. She needed to rest, conserve her energy, and there was nothing she could do in this place. She chose a spot, as far away from the bones as she possibly could in this small space, the oubliette was only about six or seven feet wide, and checked it for any other dead bodies or anything as equally unpleasant before she lay down. She curled up in a ball, her head resting on her arm, she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to claim her.

It never came.


	2. Chapter 2

When Sarah woke up she felt better. At some point in the night she had drifted off into a fitful, unrestful sleep. She awoke, but lay drifting in her own thoughts. It had been a horrible dream, Toby being turned in to a goblin. As her thoughts drifted towards her little brother the corners of her mouth twitched up in a smile, he really wasn't that bad, she decided. And from now on she was going to be nicer to her stepmother, after all Karen did try her hardest to be nice. She opened her eyes and bit back a scream.

It was completely dark.

Panic rose within her as she realised that it hadn't been a dream. She really had wished her brother away to the goblins and they really had come and taken him, then the Goblin King had been there, and she'd had to run the labyrinth to win him back, she had reached the Castle beyond the Goblin City and she'd run into the room that had so many stair cases and Toby had been there, and he was climbing stairs that were impossible, and she couldn't reach him, so she'd jumped. Then the Goblin King had been there, and she could remember their conversation clear as crystal.

"_Give me the child."_

"_Sarah, beware! I have been generous up until now but I can be cruel."_

"_Generous? What have you done that was generous?"_

"_Everything! I have done everything that you wanted! You asked the child be taken and I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you! Isn't that generous?"_

"_Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours."_

"_Stop! Wait! Look what I am offering you – your dreams."_ That had been the moment that he had offered her the crystal for the second time, it was the same one that had been offered in her parent's bedroom at the beginning when he was trying to placate her with gifts, to stop her from trying to win back her brother.

"_And my kingdom as great."_

"_I ask for so little, just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."_

She couldn't remember the line, and unlike her make believe at home she didn't have her book to look it up in. Feeling trapped she had taken the crystal.

The crystal.

She remembered it now and she took it out of her pocket, where she had stowed it during her short period of time in the throne room. She held the smooth glass up, peering into it's depths; however it was too dark to see, so she returned it to her pocket.

Suddenly she remembered the line and it made her feel sick. "You have no power over me" she muttered to herself dully before sinking her head to her knees in despair "oh Toby, what have I done?"

Although she didn't know it, Sarah had now been in the oubliette for around ten hours, making her entire stay in the underground about thirteen hours. There was no water and she was starting to feel sick from dehydration, her head was spinning and aching, her throat was sore and parched and her mouth felt uncomfortably dry and fuzzy. She unfortunately realised that she could only manage another day, perhaps two at the most without some water, and she was praying that the Goblin King hadn't forgotten about her.

"If she's not in this one we're going home!" she heard an irritated voice shouting somewhere beneath her.

Beneath her? That made no sense; she was becoming delirious from her thirst she decided as silence descended again over the oubliette. She lay back down, deciding that she would try and get a few more hours sleep as she was still feeling awfully tired. However, just as she had convinced herself that it was simply her over active imagination she heard footsteps and the sound of small pebbles being lost, then an answering call.

"You said that about the last four. Hurry up!" a second pair of footsteps could be heard, and then directly below the centre of the oubliette they stopped. Sarah peered into the darkness but could see nothing.

"Well I mean it this time!"

"You said that about the last two" the voices had now stopped shouting and were engaged in a normal conversation. "So where's the door?"

There was an answering click, followed by a crash barely a few meters away from Sarah as they opened a trapdoor. The room was suddenly bathed in light. Sarah shielded her sensitive eyes for a few moments, allowing them to become slowly adjusted to the light. When she reopened them there were two figures standing in front of her, on closer inspection they seemed to be a normal man and woman. The woman was quite tall with curly honey-blonde hair which was secured with a dark coloured headscarf, she was practically dressed in a pair of tattered jeans which seemed to have been repaired many times as they were covered in patches and darns, on the top she had a peasants style red tunic which was secured by a rough brown leather belt.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively, approaching Sarah as if she were a wild animal that was likely to bolt at any moment. After all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours Sarah was just unable to cope with any more and she just stared at the woman dumbstruck. "Umm do you speak English?" the woman tried again smiling. There was something comforting about her friendly tone and Sarah nodded mutely.

"I'm Beth" she introduced herself "and this is David" she gestured to her companion who was dressed in similar attire, he was unshaven with messy dark hair and there was an impatient gleam in his cobalt blue eyes.

"And do you have a name then?" he asked her gruffly.

"Sarah" she whispered "my name's Sarah."

"Well then Sarah" he stepped towards her, offering her his hand "how about we get ourselves out of this goddamn pit?"

Sarah smiled at him tentatively as he took another step towards her slowly. As he did so Sarah felt a sudden strong breeze drift across her face and down the back of her neck, she assumed it was coming from the grate where she had been thrown in. There was a loud crash as the trapdoor slammed shut.

"Oh crap!" he muttered as he dove to his knees and started looking for the door that they had come in through. He ran his fingers thorough the dirt on the floor, hunting desperately for the ridges, or a crack or any sign of where the trap-door lay below him, however he found none, the floor was solid rock, as if a doorway had never existed. It could only be opened from the other side.

His companion, Beth, was standing in the corner watching him crawl around in the dirt with what could only be described as a vaguely amused look on her face. "If you think for one moment I'm going to be washing those trousers now mate you've got another thing coming."

"I'm glad you find all this so damn funny" he spat, the last threads of his patience with her snapping.

"It's not a big deal, the trapdoor's shut, that's all. Calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down! We are _trapped_ in a god-forsaken oubliette and no-one knows where we are."

"Ummm" started Sarah, piping up for the first time "how are we going to get out of here?"

"Don't you worry kitten" Beth replied softly "we'll have you out of here in a jiffy."

"And how do you propose to do that? Sit around and wait for King Jareth to come and let us out?" David snapped.

Seeing the distressed look on Sarah's face at the mention of her captor Beth immediately changed the subject, sliding down the wall inelegantly she sat down next to Sarah and spoke in a conspiratorially low voice. "David" she whispered "knows how to get inside every oubliette in the labyrinth, all two-hundred and forty-five of them."

"Forty-eight" he interrupted "there's two-hundred and forty-eight."

"All two-hundred and forty-eight" she amended before continuing. "However, he knows his way out of" she paused for dramatic effect "four."

"Five" he argued, and she simply ignored him.

"Does that mean that we're stuck in here then?" Sarah asked her croaky voice barely more than a whisper, worry lines creasing her pale and tired face. She had to get out of here and find Toby, then get home before her parents went mad with worry.

"God no!" Beth laughed "I do know my way out of most of the oubliettes, including this one you'll be pleased to know."

David shot her an incredibly dirty look "Well, open it up and let's go!" he told her impatiently.

Beth rolled her eyes and knelt down by the skeleton, scanning the wall carefully. She stayed there for some time, until she found what she was looking for. There was a small stone sticking out of the wall slightly, barely more than a pebble, small enough that you could only really see it if you knew that it was there in the first place. Sarah would have had no hope searching for it in the dark. She turned it sharply counter clockwise, then back clockwise, then the other way again. Then a section of stones in the wall behind her moved up with a slow grating noise to reveal a tiny doorway, barely three feet by three feet.

"After you" she gestured to David, who shot her another dirty look before crouching down and crawling off into the darkness. "Now you Sarah" she instructed and Sarah did as she was told, following David and the small amount of light that was coming from his lantern. She could hear Beth crawling behind her, though the tunnel was too narrow for her to turn around and look. Unbidden, the image of Beth turning into a bony wraith, like the skeleton from inside the oubliette came to Sarah's mind, though she quickly shook it off as she approached a dim light signifying the end of the tunnel, it joined a much larger one, like the one Sarah and Hoggle had encountered the Goblin King the day before. It seemed like another lifetime ago to her now.

As Beth stood up she glanced around nervously, Sarah turned her attention to David who was doing the same, "Best get moving" he told them, "the cleaners were hanging about earlier and we don't want to run into them." Beth nodded her agreement and the trio set off, at what Sarah considered a gruelling pace. They had been walking for just over two hours when David suddenly stopped.

"Can you hear that?"

"The cleaners?" asked Beth worriedly.

He put his ear to the wall and listened carefully for a few moments. "I think that they're in the next tunnel over."

"We're not risking it" Beth told him firmly "It's dangerous up top admittedly, but if the cleaners are doing a sweep they'll be in this tunnel eventually, and I don't want to get trapped in a tunnel somewhere."

Secretly Sarah was relieved to be leaving the dark murky tunnels behind them; she wanted to get out into the open. Thankfully, the ladder to climb out of this section of the underground labyrinth wasn't even half as high, but it still left her panting and exhausted when she finally reached the top. The three of them clambered out of a small hole that had been left uncovered in the corner of a small square, surrounded by lush green hedges. Sarah squinted in the bright, to her eyes which had been in darkness for half a day, sunlight, and breathed a huge sigh of relief from being out in it again. Like the day before the sky was overcast and troubled.

"So where have we come out then?" Beth asked David, watching Sarah drink desperately out of a small fountain.

"Somewhere in the hedges, right side of the castle though" he replied peering off into the distance.

"That's good; we'll be back in just under an hour or so."

"Provided we don't run into trouble along the way" he took his middle finger and ring finger and pressed them to his palm using his thumb. Beth mirrored his action.

"What are you doing?" asked Sarah, who was beginning to feel slightly more confident now that she was out in the daylight.

"Just a silly superstition, we all do it" Beth smiled "it's to ward off evil."

"Like what?"

"Like when you don't want something evil to happen to you, such as running into trouble on your way home. Like touch wood" she suggested at Sarah's puzzled frown.

"Where are we going?" Sarah wondered suddenly, she was following them on good faith, anything had been better than the terrible darkness and thirst of the oubliette, but now she was outside she felt less inclined to follow them blindly.

"A safe-house" Beth replied, she had been expecting these questions for a while, she had been surprised, given how far Sarah had gotten through the labyrinth, that the girl had come with them so docilely. The labyrinth took a fair amount of tenacity and pluck to succeed. But now Sarah was regaining her feet.

"How do I know it's safe?" Sarah replied coolly. "I mean I barely know you, you've told me nothing about you!"

Beth looked around quickly "You can trust us, I promise. We're just like you, the wishers."

Comprehension dawned on Sarah slowly "You wished children away?" She asked, her pretty features creased into a deep frown.

Beth nodded "And I will tell you everything, you want to know I promise. But not here, it's not safe Sarah; we need to get back as soon as possible."

Sarah paused; weighing up her options, on the one hand Beth and David had rescued her from the oubliette, and seemed to want to take her someplace safe, with other people who had wished away children. And if they turned out to be agents of the Goblin King the worst that they could do was deliver her back to him and throw her in another oubliette. On the other hand she could not trust them and remain here, venturing out on her own, with no supplies, basically on the other hand she had nothing. She was tired and hungry and wouldn't get far on her own. Anyway, she argued with herself, if they were working with the Goblin King why would they have rescued her from the oubliette in the first place?

She decided to take a risk and trust them.

"Okay then" she spoke determinedly, feeling strengthened by the water "Lets go."

They set off at a fairly brisk pace as the couple; Beth in particular, seemed to be anxious about trekking large distances of the labyrinth out in the open. They had been walking just over an hour when she stopped in her tracks suddenly "Did you hear that?" she whispered, fear all over her face, as she nodded towards a large section of the crumbling wall that they had been walking parallel to for the last five minutes or so. They were still in the stationary, upper segment of the labyrinth but had recently entered an older section, compromising of brick walls, quite like those on the outer walls, rather than the hedges that dominated the upper half.

Sarah shook her head, she hadn't heard anything, but then again she hadn't really been listening. Perhaps Beth was simply being paranoid Sarah mused, after all she did seem awfully jumpy, but then, suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a strange noise coming from the other side of the wall. There was a scraping sound, like too-long nails being dragged roughly along a stone wall, she could hear bits of mortar and small, loose pieces of brick dropping to the ground, it was accompanied by a low gurgling sound that made the hairs on her neck stand on end and her blood run cold.

"What is that?" Sarah asked, almost half to herself, as she wasn't really sure that she wanted to know what kind of creature could make such a noise, and cause such a fearful reaction in all three of them.

The other two were both scanning the pathways wildly, waiting to see which direction the threat was coming from "There's no time to explain" David told her, looking over her shoulder, while Beth watched the other direction "we have to run as soon as we know where it is." Sarah just nodded, her heart beginning to pound with fear. Unknown to her, adrenalin was starting to coarse through her system, causing her to breath deeply, inhaling more oxygen preparing her muscles to allow her to run for her life. A snapping of a twig, slightly to the south indicated the thing's position. The trio turned and looked at each other before bolting as fast as they could in the opposite direction. Sarah was no champion athlete, but she kept up with the other two admirably, when she stumbled on the uneven ground David grabbed her, half dragging her to keep her on her feet. She didn't look back. She didn't want to see the nightmare creature that had them all so terrified.

Eventually they slowed, much to Sarah's relief, she was exhausted, breathing heavily as her lungs burned and her muscles screamed. She held herself up, bracing her arms against her thighs as she hunched over, inhaling precious oxygen as hard as she could. A few minutes later, her breathing had calmed and she was able to pant out "What was that thing?"

Beth, who was hunched over in a similar state to Sarah shook her head, at present she was in no fit state to reply, so it was David who eventually spoke, his voice punctuated by ragged breaths as he inhaled deeply, "That… was the beast."

"The beast?" Sarah asked, a cold feeling in her stomach from the choice of names, she wanted to know more about it, but at the same time part of her didn't want to hear more, so she could pretend, like with childhood monsters that it simply didn't exist.

"A nightmare creature, a monster, feeds on humans when it can, anything else the rest of the time. We were lucky to have the chance to get away. It's fast, it's strong and it's really really smart, and it enjoys the kill. Of all the foul and loathsome creatures that abide in the labyrinth it's the worst, if you ever see it or hear it, you run as fast as you possibly can because it's the only chance you will have." He paused for a moment "Her majesty's pet" he spat out.

Her majesty.

Realisation kicked in, her majesty, the woman from the throne room.

The Goblin Queen.

As Beth started to recover they all set off walking again and very soon reached their destination, the crumbling wall section of the labyrinth had ended some distance ago and they were now walking through a large airy forest, Sarah was pretty sure, though she didn't know for certain, that this wasn't the same stretch of woodland that bordered the Bog of Eternal Stench, as the two places didn't even look remotely similar. The woods before had a haunted, misty quality, as if the branches would reach out and grab you as you walked past, but this forest was very different, it felt safe. Sarah had seen pictures of the giant redwood trees that grew in California; however she had never had the opportunity to see one for herself, if she had, she would have had something to compare these trees to. They were enormous, very wide and so impossibly high that Sarah couldn't see the tops where they met the bright blue sky. At the base there was a large, intricate network of roots, which Sarah knew, the moment that she set eyes on them that she would be tripping over endlessly.

As they walked deeper into the woods they came across a small path, it wasn't very wide and they had to walk down it single file, but it was there, leading the way all the same. They followed the path until they came to a small clearing which was flooded with sunlight. In the midst of this open space were a set of ruins, although Sarah's untrained eye couldn't tell what they used to be. It had in fact, once upon a time, been a monastery, where monks from the new religion had fled to worship in sanctuary, until they were eventually discovered and driven out just shy of seven-hundred years ago. The Goblin King had then taken all of the wealth, and most of the stone to invest in some of his personal projects, and it was rumoured that he had used much of it to build a room full of stairs in the castle, though nobody had ever been able to confirm it's existence so far. All that was left of what had once been a beautiful collection of buildings was a few crumbling walls, some with massive archways indicating where fabulous stained-glass windows once resided. There were slabs of slate on the floor showing the previous positions of smaller buildings. The central feature of the ruins was the great hall, the four walls and the door were still in tact, however the roof had been missing for many centuries. This hall alone gave an indication of the former glory of the new religion, which had all but died out in these days of trouble within the underground.

In the trees above the ruins Sarah noticed a collection of little huts and shacks that had been built among the branches, connected by an intricate set of rope ladders and drawbridges. The labyrinth was a dangerous place, and the residents of the forest felt much safer above the ground, where they couldn't be caught unawares by the monsters which resided here.

As Sarah looked around her surroundings in awe Beth spoke to her with a warm smile on her face.

"Welcome home."

Willow Halloway – Sarah doesn't really warrant pity I agree, but I do kinda feel for her in the way that she didn't really mean to wish him away, and she desperately tried to get him back but forgot the words, that's the factor that made her take the crystal – a complete lack of other options, but admittedly she was stupid!

Dawn- I kinda got sick of fics where it's like "oh I'd never turn a child into a goblin I'm oh so nice, which is why my labyrinth is so easy – here have a sandwich" ect I wanted to try something different with a not so nice Jareth

Solea - I'm so not happy with you for predicting where I was gonna put my trap door – that was really mean of u - xxx

Amy- Ur reviews always make me smile so keep em up! Jareth's "I will be your slave behaviour" will be addressed in the next few chapters – this is the more the way I see him from the movie, which is completely different to how I portrayed him in my last fic (he was a lovely guy in that – and in this – well he did just turn her little brother into a goblin)


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah had gone to bed shortly after her arrival at, what the various people Sarah spoke to referred to as, the encampment. Having been shown the basic layout by David, Beth had disappeared up a tree somewhere, and then reappeared sometime later. The highest houses held the sleeping quarters, a string of bunk-beds, with about four to each hut, compromising of a rickety wooden frame and an uncomfortable, lumpy straw filled mattress. "There's a curfew at sundown" David explained to her "you need to be on the upper levels by this time, so that the rope-ladders can be raised. It's a safety thing. Unless you're on patrol" he added "in which case you have to stay on the lower levels for the night. It's perfectly safe though. It's just a precaution." Sarah didn't really believe this part. He had then pointed Sarah to an empty bed, which belonged to someone called Matt, who was apparently on the patrol for that night, and had volunteered its use for the newcomer. Beth had later told her that until they had the time to build her a bed of her own she would have to keep switching to wherever was spare. During her first night there she slept incredibly soundly, better than she would ever sleep again on those uncomfortable mattresses. She passed into deep slumber, unconscious to the world outside.

When she finally woke up and ventured outside the sun was high in the sky, and according to a young girl called Melissa, who Sarah had asked shyly, it was about half past eleven, though with the strange way that time moved in this place it was difficult to tell. Sometimes days passed so quickly they were practically a blur, and even the youngest there could remember times when it had taken almost the span of three weeks between sunrise and sunset. She had been walking along past a small wooden hut on the sleeping level when she heard her name mentioned by a familiar voice.

"What about Sarah? He seems to have shown an interest in her."

It was Beth's voice that calmly replied "she's far too young."

"She's nearly as old as you were when you first started."

There was a pause before her outburst, as she considered what he had just said "I was too young, David! But there was no choice! And I did what I had to. And I will keep doing it until there is a suitable alternative."

Sarah couldn't make out David's muffled reply, but he didn't sound particularly happy. Deciding that she really didn't want to eavesdrop any more, she screwed up her courage, knocked on the shaky door and entered the room.

Beth immediately greeted her brightly with an uncomfortable look in her eyes and a forced grin on her face, obviously trying to pretend that she hadn't been discussing Sarah moments earlier. David, on the other hand merely muttered "Good Morning" before practically storming out of the room with a black look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" Sarah asked watching his retreating back.

Beth looked even more uncomfortable as she answered "We've just had a disagreement" but she kept tight lipped on the subject. However she changed topics rapidly "We sent a group out this morning and they managed to find your brother."

Sarah immediately interrupted with a barrage of questions "Oh my god, were is he? Is he ok? Are they looking after him? Who is he with?"

"Sarah" Beth reassured her, running her hands down Sarah's arms soothingly, "he's fine. He's living in the Goblin City with the rest of the Goblins and seems perfectly fine. I'll wait for you to have something to eat, then we can go and see him, ok?"

Sarah nodded, overwhelmed by everyone's kindness.

"Sarah?" Beth asked awkwardly "There's something you should know." She encouraged Sarah to sit down on the bed opposite her. "The thing is," she continued gently "your brother…"

"Toby" Sarah supplied for her.

"Toby" Beth repeated "he wont be the same" she paused, waiting for a sign that Sarah understood but none ever came. "Turning into Goblins, it alters them. He won't really be Toby any more. When they change, it's a painful process, and mostly. It drives them insane. Most of the Goblins in the city have run completely mad."

"Oh my god" whispered Sarah, her eyes wide with shock "what did I do?" Beth reached over and hugged her tightly, "I didn't mean it" Sarah whispered into the other girl's shoulder.

"Yes you did." Beth corrected her calmly.

"What?"

"You had to have meant it, even if you regret it now, at the moment you uttered the words you meant it. He can't take what isn't truly given." Sarah just stared at Beth, almost unable to take in what was being said. "You screwed up for a moment, Sarah. Only for a moment, and if you had truly and forever wanted your brother gone you would have never entered the labyrinth. You did everything you could to get him back, that's why you're here."

"I took the crystal." Sarah confessed trying to deal with the guilt that had been building up over the last two days. "I just didn't know what else to do and I couldn't remember what to say, so I took the crystal. Then the time ran out. And he…" she paused, struggling to find the words to describe what had happened next. For the rest of her life Sarah would be haunted by the memory of what had happened that day, "Oh god… he turned him into a goblin. I've never seen anything like it. It was so awful."

"Hush now" said Beth soothingly, closing her eyes to banish the memory of watching a child being turned.

As if reading her thoughts Sarah suddenly asked "Who was it? That you wished away, I mean."

Beth's forehead creased and she frowned as she stared at Sarah, who began to apologise, thinking that she had said the wrong thing, but Beth cut her off with an answer "My daughter. I wished away my daughter" she said sadly.

"Oh" replied Sarah softly.

I was barely older than you when I had Megan" she started to explain "I got into a rough crowd when I was at school. First it was smoking you know, then by the time I was fourteen it was drinking, which eventually led to sex I suppose. I was nearly sixteen when I found out I was pregnant. My mum was so disappointed" she sighed. "I was too young for a baby; I could barely look after myself, let alone be responsible for another life. But I was, and there was nothing I could do to change it. Until I wished her away."

"How long ago was that?"

"Five years or so. I think, it's hard to keep track of time here."

"How far did you get in the labyrinth?"

"I barely made it into the Goblin City, let alone the castle." She shook her head slowly "I kept getting so lost." She sighed deeply, her mind drifting back to the pain of loosing her daughter, before evicting the memories from her head quickly. It wasn't a subject that she liked to dwell on. "Come on Sarah" she said finally "Let's go find your brother".

The journey to the Goblin City took less time than it had taken them to leave it the other day. When she questioned David about this he pointed out to her that the entire labyrinth was like this. Time didn't move constantly, indeed, he explained, time didn't really exist at all in the labyrinth. It was subject to King Jareth's whims. He could speed it up, slow it down or even reverse it, simply because he wished it to be so. As Jareth preferred people to come to the centre of the labyrinth, as opposed to escaping it, it meant that time slowed as you moved towards the castle, making the journey faster.

"He makes it like that" David said with a shudder, looking over his shoulder as if he thought the Goblin King could be standing behind him.

It took them three quarters of an hour to walk into the hustling, bustling centre of the city. And it had changed into an almost completely different place to the hazardous streets that Sarah had traversed yesterday. The structural damage from Ludo's rocks still remained, however under the watchful eye of the Goblin King most of the debris had been cleared away. The streets that had previously been full of the pathetic excuse for the Goblin Army were now full of goblin tradesmen and craftsmen, of a sort. Female goblins were shopping, or standing on street corners gossiping. They were all making a horrific din, arguing about prices, or who had been standing in the queue longest or over other insignificant matters. They were hurtling insults at each other left right and centre. Chickens were squawking as their feathers were plucked out by particularly spiteful individuals. Such were Jareth's goblins, a disorganised rabble, with no loyalty to each other, only to the King that they served. They idolised their ruler, looking up to him in all things, crudely imitating him, as a young child does to their parents. Like him they were distorted from their original humanity and now they had become cold and cruel, thinking about themselves only at all times.

Through the winding goblin-filled streets Beth and David led her, the streets all looked the same and as if she were in another labyrinth soon Sarah began to feel completely lost. Eventually they ended up in a quiet lane a few blocks from the noisy city centre. It was practically deserted apart from a young group of goblins who were playing happily, kicking a stone around the streets, their laughter echoing above the rooftops. Unlike the older inhabitants of the city they were quite cooperative, although it wasn't unusual for a small scuffle to break out every now and then. In the midst of these goblins was Toby, he was laughing along with the others as if he had been here his entire life. This in his mind was true, as he could not remember a time before he had played in these streets. However he somehow recognised Sarah, he ran to her excitedly as she sank to the floor embracing him tightly. Eventually she pulled him onto her lap and he sat there gurgling happily to himself as a few stray tears ran down Sarah's face.

She didn't get to stay long with her brother, though seeing him cheered her up immensely. Beth was worried about getting back in time for dinner, as she couldn't guarantee that anyone would save them any food. Sarah agreed as she didn't fancy going to bed on an empty stomach. Beth needn't have worried though, there was plenty of food and there was always some waiting for people who are absent from meal-times. As predicted the walk back seemed to take much longer than the walk there. When they returned a pretty girl called Alice had only just begun to ladle stew into bowls, so they hadn't missed the meal. Sarah sat with Alice while they ate as Beth and David were now making an effort to help Sarah get to know the rest of the group.

Time in the labyrinth ran in no particular order, this mean that it never ran parallel to time aboveground. When the two realities touched a day could have passed aboveground since the last time they had touched, or a year could have passed or a hundred years, or it could be two hundred years previously. Not even Jareth knew the age he was visiting until he got up there. This meant that the inhabitants of the encampment were from a startling variety of times and places. Beth was from England in 2003, and teased Sarah to no end from being from the eighties, while David and Alice were both from America in the 1950s. There was a sweet girl called Marguerite who hailed from revolutionary France, who spoke little-to-no English, and was almost constantly seen in the company of Georgiana, a seventeenth-century gentle woman who was the only one who understood what she was saying. Though there was a vast spectrum of backgrounds the majority came from medieval Britain. Beth told her later that this was because during this time the Goblin King and his labyrinth was a much more common myth, and in modern society the legend was fading out of human knowledge, in fact, herself and Sarah were the only two that had run the labyrinth coming from the last fifty years "from my perspective of course" she had added thoughtfully.

"In fact, with the exception of us" she told Sarah quietly "no babies have been wished away at all in recent years."

"How do you know this?" Sarah asked, it was a strict policy of the Goblin King's that nobody could interfere when a child was wished away; indeed it was dangerous even to be in the same section of the labyrinth as a runner, lest Jareth suspect you of treachery and Sarah had been warned about this fact by several members of the group.

"King Jareth told me."

"Oh" Sarah couldn't really imagine the Goblin King just imparting this information to anybody, but she held her tongue and took Beth's word on the subject.

Or at least she tried to.

"How well do you know the Goblin King?" she blurted out suddenly, mentally kicking herself in the process.

A brief look of shock passed over Beth's face so fast that Sarah almost missed it. "Oh not well" she replied with a false breeziness. "I really should go and supervise who's on patrol for the night, otherwise it'll never get sorted, and you should be getting up the rope ladders, it's nearly sundown."

Sarah watched her walk away. She had a deeply uncomfortable and unpleasant feeling that Beth wasn't telling her something, and that something fairly important was going on, but she was refusing to tell. Sarah shrugged away the feeling; after all she had only known Beth for just over twenty-four hours, or was it twenty-six down here? And she could hardly expect the girl to tell her all her deepest darkest secrets. However Sarah was a naturally curious person, and she was determined to find out more about the labyrinth and what was going on.

After the ladders had been raised for the night Sarah approached a young girl called Mary, who had, like many, come from the English dark ages, who seemed happy enough to sate some of Sarah's thirst for knowledge about the King. This curiosity was generally considered by the group as being fairly commonplace and completely natural, and therefore almost their duty to pass on any knowledge that they had acquired. "Cold, that'd be best word to describe him, cruel, calculating, devious, and oh-so clever. He'm ain't human though, not by a long shot. He'm closer relation to them goblins 'o his, not human though."

"He described himself as generous to me" Sarah recalled, almost half to herself.

"Generous? Ha" She let out a dry humourless bark of a laugh "he'm wouldn't know generosity if it walked up to him and slapped him round the face."

"He said he was generous because he had re-ordered time for me."

_You asked that the child be taken, and I took him. I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you._

"Pish-posh, that's hardly a difficult task considering he orders time in the first place." Realisation suddenly hit Sarah like a brick. He hadn't been generous. He had taken Toby because he wanted another goblin; he had reordered time and turned the world upside down simply because he had felt like it. She hadn't even been considered in his decision making process.

"Then he offered to be my slave, he claimed that he was in love with me."

"A dirty, cheap trick." Mary informed her "it is King Jareth's right to make the labyrinth as hard or as difficult as he wishes, however he is always challenged by the Queen in this respect. It's a game to them, like chess, one of them helps you, one of them hinders you. They make bets over who will complete the labyrinth. In your case Jareth bet that you would lose, while the Queen tried to help you win."

"But she didn't help me, I never saw her the entire time I was travelling through the labyrinth. I never saw her, not until…" she trailed off; talking about Toby's change was a sore subject.

"They help indirectly, send their servants instead." Sarah nodded sadly, it made a lot of sense, none of her friends had anything to gain from helping her, and they hadn't come to her aid in the oubliette. However part of Sarah didn't entirely believe Mary as Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Didymus had all claimed to be her friends an she wasn't ready to abandon them just yet.

"A word of advice" Mary said quietly, interrupting Sarah from her thoughts "forget everything that he offered you Sarah. You won't get it. King Jareth offered us all the world in order to distract us from our quest and all of us have yet to receive anything from him. He very rarely remembers his promises and the times that he keeps them are even rarer." She touched Sarah on the shoulder gently before getting up and walking over a rickety bridge then out of sight behind a tree.

Sarah sat alone in the darkness for a while lost in her thoughts, occasionally interrupted by the greetings of people walking past where she sat, her legs dangling off the edge of the walkway. Having slept a lot last night she wasn't really that tired and all sorts of questions were running through her mind. What exactly was the Goblin King? Where did he come from? And his wife? Could Toby be turned back? This she doubted. Mostly, however she was worrying about her parents, did they know she and Toby were missing? Were they worried sick? Or had they simply forgotten that they had ever had any children? This wasn't the unlikeliest of theories, as she had never heard of other children being snatched by goblins before, and she wouldn't put it past the Goblin King to wipe the memories of people.

Shaking her head she got up and decided to go to bed. But her sleep that night was restless, for her dreams were plagued by a pair of mis-matched eyes.

In another part of the labyrinth, deep within the bowls of the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, a booted foot was tapping the floor impatiently "Well?" he demanded to a group of goblins who were dangling a rope into a dark hole.

"She ain't climbing up the rope, your majesty" a goblin bravely informed him.

He sighed "Well I can see that for myself. Is there a particular reason she isn't climbing up?"

"Perhaps she's dead" squeaked a goblin from the corner who was wearing a black eye-patch, emblazoned with a skull and crossbones, in the middle of his forehead.

"Well I suggest you find out." The impatience in his voice was growing to dangerous levels, however not all of the goblins standing in the room above the oubliette seemed to have noticed.

"How do we find out?" piped up one especially stupid goblin. The Goblin King answered its question with a short, sharp kick which sent it tumbling, headfirst and screaming into the black hole.

About two minutes later the little creature came scampering back up the rope, apparently none the worse for wear, and reported to the King "She ain't in there Sire."

"What do you mean she isn't in there? Where is she then?"

A figure, adorned in the finest silk, with silver bangles decorating her wrist, which made no sound as she moved, stepped from the shadows silently. As her mis-matched eyes met her husbands she spoke.

"I should imagine, Jareth that you know very well where she is."

* * *

_Lhiata - Jareth and Sarah's relationship is going to be incredibly incredibly complex (from a my god I actually have to write it pov), however whether they'll get together as a couple – u'll just have to see how it pans out._

_Dark Angels – Cheers sweetie. The main reason I'm writing this fic is because there isn't (to my knowledge) a story like this out there. Jareth nearly always ends up being far too nice (and completely in love with Sarah) and I thought it would be interesting to pursue it from another angle._

_SilverWing02 – Jareth is scary! He's an evil baby snatcher. And he's so much fun to write about!_

_Willow Halloway – the Goblin Queen is Jareth's wife, and they've been married (fairly happily) for millennia. But more will be mentioned on their background later. _

_Solea – Glad you're enjoying it, and ur constant support means a lot to me!_

_Angela Scarlet – That's a really good idea! A Goblin Jareth – however it would be unpleasant to get rid of my yummy regular Jareth. However saying that he is a very close relative to the goblins, just much better looking. _


	4. Chapter 4

__

Once upon a time, when the earth was still new and whole there were three beings of incredible power: a husband, a wife and their son. This family were incredibly devoted to each other and as a triumvirate ruled over the four corners of the earth and all the lands in-between. Between them they had amassed as many names for themselves as there were tongues in the lands; Zeus, Mars, Brigit, Thor, Hera, Jupiter and Kali were only a few of their many names. The three, or the triumvirate as they were known as to those with the wit to recognise them and what they will be known as for all time in underground legend, were as cruel as they were powerful.

_Of all of them the son was the most powerful and with that also the most cruel. Eventually after thousands of years of enduring their tyrannical reign the humans rebelled. A great army was formed, a host of many thousands upon thousands and they marched upon the great temple of the triumvirate, killing any true servant of the three that laid in their path. _

_At the entrance to the temple a bloody battle commenced, the like of which has not been seen on earth since that evil day. Eventually a sword was put through the heart of the youngest of the three. He died in his mother's arms. In their despair at the loss of their son and seeing the terrible force that lay in front of them they relinquished their rule. But at a terrible price, the earth was split into two parts: the aboveground and the underground. The two remaining members of the triumvirate, Jareth and Morgana, retreated to the underground, but not before the magicians of the earth lay one final curse on their former gods. That Morgana would never again bear another child and that the power of the triumvirate would never again be complete. _

_As these words were spoken Jareth and Morgana and all of their remaining followers; the dwarfs and the centaurs and the imps and the trolls and the goblins fled to the underground. The various species scattered across the lands in terror until all that was left were the remains of the triumvirate and the goblins. _

_Out of the ground Jareth drew a mighty walled city and a great castle, and then with the aid of his wife he created an immense labyrinth to protect the labyrinth in order that no hurt should come to his family again. _

_They then proclaimed themselves the King and Queen of the Goblins, stealing children from the aboveground, where their name had become merely a myth, whenever the chance came upon them to take revenge for the son that had been taken from them so long ago._

Three months had passed since Sarah's arrival and it had passed in a blur. Time had been moving quickly recently, not that anybody was really bothered about this, save Sarah who found it slightly unsettling. She was finding living in the labyrinth quite peaceful, her days were preoccupied with patching up old clothes, laundry, cleaning or helping out with the cooking. Hunting and fishing remained out-of-bounds activities for the women-folk of the camp, despite Beth's and now Sarah's continued protests. The days and nights had recently passed with little activity, the beast had once been spotted by a hunting party a few miles off the encampment, but this was nothing out of the ordinary.

Sarah had just been to bathe in the river, which was located about half a mile from the encampment and was the only place nearby that was deep enough to use to have a proper wash. The summer sunshine ensured that it was quite a pleasant activity, though Sarah wasn't looking forward to the winter. She had squeezed most of the water from her hair before she started the walk back, however it still hung down her back in a damp braid, water was dripping onto the back of her shirt causing an unpleasant damp patch. But it was soon forgotten about as Sarah stepped into the clearing of the encampment. A tall figure stood alone in the centre, staring up at the trees, the sunlight was shining through his frost coloured hair making it look as if light was shining out of his body in an ethereal manner. He was breathtakingly beautiful, but at the same time terrifying. There was no warmth in his gaze, no softness in his face; he was distant and cold as he surveyed the surrounding area carefully.

Then someone grabbed her arm. Sarah bit back a scream as David started to haul her to the nearest ladder, to climb up into the trees, as he did so the Goblin King turned round and as his eyes met her he winked as a slow smile spread across his face.

He had found his prey.

His smile was not at all friendly. It was the smile of somebody who knew a joke that you had not been privileged to hear. Sarah was paralyzed, she wanted to move, to run, but she couldn't get her limbs to move. Sensing this David tried to galvanise her into action, pushing and pulling her towards the trees, but it was to no avail. And the Goblin King was getting closer.

"You wanted to see me Jareth?" A voice rang across the clearing, confidently addressing the monarch. Jareth turned to the speaker and as he did so Sarah scurried up the rope ladder with a cursing David not far behind her. She immediately went to join the others, who were sitting and standing on the walkways, watching the scene below them.

"Ah yes. Beth. You're not exactly who I wanted to see, but never-the-less you'll do" he smiled cruelly at her and to Beth's credit she didn't flinch. "I believe you have something of mine."

She played his game.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The girl. Sarah."

"Oh, I didn't realise she was yours, I simply found her lying around in an oubliette. I never dreamed anybody would have a prior claim."

He frowned "The point isn't where you may have found her; the point is that I want her back."

"Surely we can come to some arrangement?" Beth asked in a brisk, businesslike manner. A grin spread across his face as he stepped closer to her. They now spoke in hushed tones that didn't carry up into the trees.

The group started to disperse, they had seen this kind of thing unfold before and the end now was really a forgone conclusion. David spat down onto the forest floor angrily before climbing back down the ladder and storming off into the trees. Sarah was left alone, sitting on the walkway, she looked back down at the clearing, the Goblin King was gone now and Beth was scanning the tree-tops urgently, probably looking for David. When she failed to find him she climbed up and sat with Sarah.

"Hey" she said warmly as Sarah greeted her with a smile.

"Is everything ok? With the Goblin King, I mean. He's not going to come after me again is he?"

Beth smiled, mostly to herself "No, it's sorted. Don't you worry now." She patted Sarah's arm affectionately before heading off, presumably to find David.

Beth and David had been a couple for the past eighteen months or so, and their relationship was stormy at the best of times. According to Mary and Alice, who had been filling Sarah in on all the camp's gossip, before they had started dating they had never stopped arguing, never seen eye to eye on any topic and never managed to agree to disagree from almost the moment they met. "It was a nightmare!" Alice had added, but then paused "they're much better now though", apparently this was a common theory as nobody had enjoyed listening to them argue. Since they had been going out the bickering had lessened, and they always made up afterwards, meaning that the encampment was very rarely divided on matters. During the few days after Jareth's appearance a stony silence had settled on the couple which Beth didn't seem able to breach, while David didn't seem willing. However within a week things had settled back to normal and Sarah assumed they had put whatever had been bothering them behind them, which Sarah assumed was Beth's apparent readiness to strike a deal with the Goblin King, who David famously loathed.

The day that Sarah met the Goblin Queen dawned bright and sunny and warm. It was a perfect day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which was an unimaginable deep blue colour that instantly puts to mind one-thousand-and-one memories of eating ice-cream at the park. Two weeks had passed since King Jareth's visit and it was slowly beginning to slip out of people's minds. Sarah had spent most of the afternoon sunbathing and making daisy chains with Mary, in a vast meadow that lay just north of the forest that housed the encampment. Mary, whose turn it was that night to help make dinner had headed home a short while earlier, but Sarah, who was enjoying the peace and the sunshine, had opted to stay out for a while longer. She pulled up the long woollen skirt she had borrowed from one of the other girls a few days earlier, so the hem rested just above her knees, while she laid back, enjoying the feeling of the sun soaking into her skin. She dozed like this for a while before she decided that she should get back, Beth especially tended to panic if people went off on their own for too long and Sarah didn't want to cause her any necessary aggravation as she was enough of a fuss-pot at the best of times. As fond as Sarah was of Beth, she found the woman's almost control-freakish habits a bit claustrophobic at times.

However as she began to walk towards the trees she noticed a figure dressed in dark clothes standing in her path.

As she grew closer the figure came into focus, like her husband the Goblin Queen was devastatingly beautiful, unnaturally so. Sarah had heard the legend of the fall of Troy and of a woman so beautiful she had caused a war that had lasted ten years. She had never believed a word of it, until now.

The Goblin Queen's beauty could end lives.

Everything about the Queen was icy in its perfection. Her white-blond hair, which was at current scraped back and pinned up, highlighting the sharp angles of her face. Mis-matched eyes regarded her coolly. She was dressed entirely in black, which only stood to emphasise the ethereal paleness of her skin. The dress, a rather severe creation was made from the finest black silk, and hung elegantly from a strapless bodice, wide black ribbons had been attached to her wrists, like some form of cufflink while another band was used to cover the edge of her hairline.

She had her husband's elegant grace, the same crackling aura of power which made Sarah feel distinctly nervous. Whatever she and the Goblin King were, they were evidently cut from the same cloth, as Sarah could not imagine a more fitting companion or more perfect match than the Goblin Queen.

As Sarah approached she spoke disdainfully "Do you not know how to greet a Queen?" Sarah dipped into a clumsy curtsy, which seemed to appease her majesty for the time being. "I thought you might have completed the labyrinth" she sniffed elegantly, "after all you had plenty of help; I even sent one of my own servants."

"What servant?" Sarah asked, finding her tongue for the first time since she set eyes on the Goblin Queen. She felt disgustingly nervous, like a deer caught in the headlights and she wanted to run away, but she thought this would be an even more dangerous course of action.

"He's my dearest darling" the Queen told her with a hint of a smile on her face, she obviously harboured some affection for the creature. When Sarah didn't seem to know who she was talking about she cleared it up "His name is Ludo."

"Oh, Ludo" Sarah relaxed, if the Queen had sent Ludo to help her she couldn't be nearly as bad as the others had made her out to be, after all Beth was always worrying about things that never really seemed to happen. She suddenly started to pay attention again as the Queen was speaking to her.

She was gesturing at the ground as she spoke and to Sarah's amazement a stone bench began to materialise out of thin air. Pieces of it flew together like a 3D jigsaw, but when it was complete it looked as if it had been there the entire time, there were no cracks in the smooth stone. The Queen patted the bench beside her, indicating that Sarah should sit down next to her.

Sarah did as she was bid, after all who was she to deny a queen, and after all this woman was so lovely. At the moment she was laughing at the antics of a bird who was hopping around a few feet away, Sarah suddenly felt a wave of contentment wash over her, she could listen to this beautiful woman laugh forever.

"How are you finding my labyrinth Sarah?" the Queen asked her.

Sarah hated the labyrinth, she would give anything not to be here, to go home, back to her Dad and Karen and the comfort of normality. But she desperately wanted to avoid offending this woman. So she lied.

"It's very beautiful" but before the words had even passed her lips she knew that the Queen knew that she wasn't telling the truth.

Her reply to Sarah was perfectly warm "I know that you don't truly like this place, and why should you?"

Sarah hung her head sadly "I want to go home."

"My dear child" the Queen said her voice melodious "you cannot ever leave the labyrinth. And even if you could" her voice was beginning to cool rapidly like a winter's frost "you would have nobody to take you in."

"I… I… I don't… I don't understand" Sarah stammered.

The Queen held her hand out and where there had once only been empty air there was now a crystal resting in the palm of her hand. She gave it to Sarah who looked into it but merely saw a distorted view of the world around her. "Well?" she demanded to Sarah "it awaits instruction."

Sarah paused, as if she didn't understand, but eventually she spoke "I want to see my parents."

The crystal went dark.

When Sarah looked again the crystal was showing her the living room at home, it was all achingly familiar, the faded blue wallpaper that Sarah had never liked, it was more in Karen's taste than her own, the mottled beige carpet, the lumpy furniture that her Dad had owned even before him and her Mom had separated. She recognised the back of her Dad and Karen's heads, they were curled up closely together on the sofa, apparently watching TV, Karen's head was resting on his shoulder lightly, they looked contented.

Sarah's worst fears had been recognised, they had forgotten about her and Toby.

But then the crystal began to move, to zoom in on the TV and as it did so sound started to come out with the tiniest of vibrations. They were watching a local news broadcast, the anchor woman looking vaguely familiar wearing a deep burgundy suit, but what drew Sarah's attention was the fact that there was a picture of herself behind the anchorwoman. She listened to the voice carefully.

"The search for fifteen year old Sarah Williams and her half-brother Toby ended in tragedy today, as their bodies were found in local woods. Sarah the daughter of actress Linda Williams and her brother, the son of Sarah's father and his second wife were reported missing three weeks ago by their parents when they returned home one evening to find both their children missing, with no sign of a struggle. Since then police and close friends have been scouring the area in hopes of finding them safe and well, these hopes however have now been quashed.

"Both Linda and her ex-husband Robert have been unable to make a statement, though close friends have told us that they are 'beyond devastated' at their loss. Our condolences go out to the families. Meanwhile police have no leads so far and…"

Sarah was unable to hear any more as her father now turned the TV off, the crystal now panned round and she could see her parent's faces, and it tore out Sarah's heart. They looked a far cry from contented, they were both pale and drawn, as if they hadn't had much sleep in recent weeks. Karen's eyes were puffy from frequent bouts of crying, while her father looked like he had completely fallen apart. Sarah had never seen them look so lost and helpless.

And it was all her fault.

She couldn't watch anymore. She hurled the crystal as hard as she could into the long grasses before turning to the Goblin Queen.

It was like a fog had been lifted. The woman who she had before thought of as warm and sweet and kindly was now truly revealed. She was watching Sarah's distress with a look of amusement on her beautiful face. Sarah realised now that the Goblin Queen had been toying with her all along, like a cat playing with a mouse for fun.

She was getting a sick, twisted pleasure from showing Sarah what had happened at home.

Sarah stood up, staring at the Queen before turning on her heels and running as fast as her legs could carry her back towards the safety and the haven of the woods.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been raining for hours when Sarah finally stumbled back into the clearing of the encampment.

She had run deep into the forest, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the monstrous Goblin Queen. She hadn't stuck to the path in her haste and she had become completely lost. The trees in this part of the forest grew much closer together and blocked out almost all of the daylight, giving the forest an eerie and oppressive feeling, as if it were closing in all around her. And it was starting to get darker. She thought it was too early for the sun to be setting, but then again Sarah couldn't seem to work out how the time was moving.

Something cold hit her forehead softly. She reached up and felt moisture there. It was followed by another, then another.

It was starting to rain.

Sarah had always loved storms. The sheer drama of the rolling thunder and the bright lightning had always appealed to her. She liked to curl up at the window watching the lightning strike the ground, while counting until the thunder rumbled to see how far away the storm was. Sarah doubted that trick would work here, where time and distance all depended on the Goblin King's whim. It had been taught to her by her mother when Sarah was very young, one night when she had been woken by the loud noise and gone creeping into her parents room. Her father had been away on business that night and her mother had let her crawl into bed beside her and watch the storm until she had fallen asleep.

Sarah missed her mother terribly. She had been twelve years old when her parents had finally given up and gotten a divorce. Sarah had been devastated, she hadn't understood why her parents had split up, and she still didn't.

"It's just that your mother and I have fallen out of love" her father had tried to explain to her. But this made no sense to a twelve year old child. How could you fall out of love? Wasn't love supposed to be forever?

Until her father had remarried Sarah had always supposed that he and her mother would get back together; this was just a temporary situation. They had fallen out of love; they could just as easily fall back in love.

The day her father married Karen all of her hopes were shattered. It had been a lovely day, and Sarah had been, at Karen's request, maid of honour. She had been allowed to pick her own dress and she had chosen white as her mother had always said that she looked beautiful in white.

The day her father married Karen Sarah realised that things were permanent, there would be no reconciliation. She felt as if she was losing her mother all over again.

The storm was getting worse. Sarah sighed; at least the storm-clouds explained why it was so dark. She really did not want to get stuck in the woods overnight, she'd heard stories of people who had wandered into the woods after the sun had set, never to be heard from again. Though I may not have any choice, she thought to herself grimly. She decided that the only possible logical thing to do was to retrace her steps and hopefully find her way back to the meadow, then eventually back to the encampment.

She shivered slightly and started to walk faster to keep herself warm, she was starting to really feel the rain now. After what felt like about two hours, though in reality she couldn't tell how fast the time was moving she arrived back at the encampment. Time had a nasty habit of slipping away from Sarah and there had been more than one occasion that she had accidentally returned to the encampment after the ladders had been raised for the night, and she hadn't been allowed to go to bed, she'd had to spend the night on the lower levels with the people who were patrolling. Beth, on each occasion, had been predictably furious. And on the last instance she had threatened, quite convincingly that if Sarah could not learn to keep track of the time on her own then she was "bloody well not going out on her own until she managed to learn."

Sarah had no doubt that Beth would keep her word as soon as she had done lecturing Sarah about her irresponsibleness, and Sarah felt slightly apprehensive about returning, she knew she would be in trouble. However when she reached the encampment she wasn't the only one still on the forest floor. Half the encampment was down there, many of them holding torches, looking at the surroundings nervously, and searching the immediate forest.

Sarah was puzzled. It was an unwritten rule that they didn't hold search parties at night. If you got lost in the dark it was you were on your own. This decision had been made even before Beth and David's time, that to risk many lives to save one was fruitless.

Sarah had a bad feeling, deep in the pit of her stomach.

The Goblin King had been walking in the labyrinth for hours.

He was lost in thought. It was a pastime he often indulged in since they had been trapped in this hell-hole so long ago. After all what did he have more of than time? Like most of the times that he walked alone his thoughts were bent on the past, eons ago, before the written word. Normally his mind wandered towards his son, but today his thoughts were fixed firmly on his wife. In her youth her beauty could not be surpassed and like him she hadn't aged a day.

He'd always sworn that he would never take a wife. That he would wander the earth alone, for all eternity, and he had for centuries. And then he had met her. One day, long before man had even discovered the virtue of fire, before they even knew he existed he had met her, and of that meeting nothing is remembered, save by Jareth and Morgana. The moment his eyes rested on her he wanted her. To possess her, body and soul. So he had taken her, only to find that she now possessed him in return.

He had found his mate.

She rivalled him in every aspect, her beauty, her strength, her malice and cruelty. She matched him in every way possible.

And they had bourn a son. Whose hair was as dark as his parents were fair. He had surpassed them both, become greater than them combined and to see him cut down had been a devastating blow. They had ruled the world with him. Yet upon his death his mother had given up, she had been defeated. She had become a shell of what she had once been. The passing centuries had served to restore some of her lost cheer, but she still missed him terribly. And he too still felt the pain of their loss.

He wasn't really that surprised to see her sitting on his throne when he returned to the castle, which was practically deserted, the goblins off building his wife a new garden that afternoon. His wife had always taken liberties and she had never really viewed him as having any authority over her.

"Did you enjoy your walk my love?"

Her question made him glance up, watch her stand as she walked over to him slowly, he answered her question formally, more formally than he had spoken to her in years, while he slowly moved his lips down her neck and across her shoulder.

"Yes, thank you madam I did."

As he glanced at her face, all delicious wickedness, the sides of his mouth upturned into an evil grin, and he slowly ran his fingers up and down her waist, while with his other hand using two fingers under her chin her raised her mouth so that it met hers in a lingering kiss.

When they finally broke away two pairs of mis-matched eyes met and the Jareth chuckled throatily. His wife had obviously been up to something.

"So what manner of mischief have you been up to today?"

As she told him he began to laugh heartily.

When Beth approached her, Sarah for one moment thought that the older girl was going to slap her and she was very surprised when she was pulled into a tight embrace.

"Oh thank God you're safe Sarah! I thought that…" she trailed off as she let Sarah go.

Sarah looked at her properly, Beth looked exhausted. The rain had plastered her curly hair to her face and it hung limply, dripping down her back, though she seemed not to have noticed. But it was the look in her eyes that scared Sarah. She looked so tired inside and her eyes were red from recent crying. And Sarah suddenly realised what was going on.

Something terrible had happened.

"Beth, what's going on?" she was almost scared to ask. "What's the matter? Why is everybody down here in the dark?"

"Sarah" Beth said, then paused, gearing herself up to talk "there's been an attack. On the boarders of the encampment. It was the beast."

"Oh my God" she replied, as the implications of what Beth had said sank in. The beast didn't just attack people it killed them, and it didn't just kill people, it ripped them to shreds. For pleasure.

And now it knew where they lived.

"Sarah it was Mary" Beth told her bluntly, there was no other way to break the news.

She spared Sarah the details, how they had found her in a glade that had been stained red with her blood. How Alice, who had discovered the remains of her best friend couldn't even talk because she was so shaken up. How they had only been able to identify the body due to a bracelet that she always wore.

Beth's voice was shaky "We thought… we thought he'd got you too! Oh, Sarah when you didn't come home I was so scared. And all I could keep thinking was that I should have taken better care of you."

"Beth it's not your job to take care of me."

"Yes it is!" the other girl cut her off "because if I don't then nobody else is going to." Sarah was looking pale, having to take everything in. "Sarah go take five minutes, stay close, there's some things I need to go sort out."

"What are you going to do?" asked Sarah warily.

There was a dark look in Beth's eye when she answered "I'm going to summon the Goblin King."

When Sarah finally joined the others Beth was using a stick to draw a circle in the dirt on the forest floor. David was standing near her and they were exchanging serious words. It had the smell of an old argument.

"Beth don't do this! Can't you see that this is a really bad idea?"

"What choice do we have David? There's no way we can protect ourselves from the beast and we can't simply wait for it to pick us off one by one. So we have to call on King Jareth."

"But you'll know what he'll want in payment."

"And that's a price I'm willing to pay."

"But I'm not! I've stood aside too many times Beth and I'm tired of it! If you go to him I swear it's over between us." He spat on the floor angrily before stalking off up a ladder as Beth turned back to the circle and began to chant.

"Goblin King

Goblin King

Wherever he may be

He who stole a child from me.

Be he far or be he near

I call upon the Goblin King

Right now

Right Here."

Sarah had the common sense to realise that the Goblin King would appear in the circle. However she was expecting some sort of visible magic, a blinding flash of light, or a puss of smoke perhaps. She wasn't expecting that one moment he would be there stepping out the circle nonchalantly while thunder rolled overhead. He was dressed, appropriately, whether he knew it or not, entirely in black, which matched the look in his eyes, which was directed entirely at Beth.

"You called?" his voice was light, but still reminded Sarah of a cobra, dangerous and ready to strike.

"I wished to ask a favour Your Majesty."

"Using my given title Beth? You must be in dire straits. What is it I wonder that has the entire place so worked up? I thought you were all scared of the dark."

"The beast" Beth's voice was incredibly calm, unnaturally so "He attacked one of our own."

"And what precisely do you expect me to do? I could not bring them back even if I cared to."

"I know, but we can't risk it happening again, and he knows where we are."

"I'm still unclear as to where I come into all this" he seemed vaguely amused now, like he was dragging out the conversation for his own entertainment.

"You must have some control over him" Beth said passionately, her voice ringing across the clearing "surely you can prevent him from coming back?"

"Ahh. It's slightly more complicated than that, as you well know my dear." He paused, his eyebrows raised questioningly at Beth. When she didn't answer he finally continued "As you know the beast is my wife's and as such my power over him is" another delicate pause "limited." He seemed to think for a moment "I could restrict his movements during the daytime."

"That would be enough" they would simply have to be more careful at night.

"There will of course be a price."

"Of course" Beth's answer sounded rehearsed, as of this part of the conversation had occurred many times. Her voice was soft, yet firm and the only emotion in it was a hint of resignation.

"Then you will come to me?"

"When?"

"Tomorrow night" it wasn't a request. It was a command. Whatever the Goblin King's price was he would receive it tomorrow.

Beth looked up into the trees and met David's eyes as she spoke "I am ever his highnesses loyal servant to command."

The Goblin King followed her line of sight and when he saw David he smirked like a cat that had just got the cream "Lover's quarrel?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with" Beth snapped back.

"Oh I do wonder what the cause could be."

Beth didn't bother to reply. Instead she started to bark orders for the people who were supposed to be on patrol that night then started herding everybody up to bed. This seemed to give the group a burst of action and they scurried off into the trees, anxious to be away from the cold gaze of the Goblin King who was standing to one side watching them with a bored expression on his face.

As the others dissipated for some reason that she would never understand Sarah hung back, drawn to the Goblin King.

"You shouldn't stay out here alone little girl" he mocked, then his voice grew more serious "there are monsters in the dark." But none as dangerous as the King of the Goblins a voice added in the back of her head. She shook the fear from her mind as she stood before him.

"Turn him back. Please. He's done nothing to you" she sounded much more desperate than she had intended to "please, I'll give you anything you want."

He mercifully interrupted her begging, it was grating on his nerves. "I couldn't turn him back, even if I were vaguely inclined to. And what makes you think you have anything I want?"

She didn't answer. His face turned into a cold smirk, Beth hadn't risen to his bait, and robbed him of his chance for sport, but he could still have fun with this one.

"How is your brother anyway?" he asked casually.

Sarah paled but screwed up her courage. "There's no need to rub salt on the wound Jareth" she addressed him haughtily, omitting his title, a blatant defiance that only made him smirk more.

"Now Sarah" he placated, never losing his grin "you know, rubbing salt on a wound often helps it heal. Stings a bit though" he added thoughtfully. "You feel anger towards me; it replaces all that nasty guilt."

He walked closer to her now and she turned away, unable to meet his eyes any longer as he continued. "Those niggling feelings of doubt." He was right behind her now and she could feel his breath on her skin. "Could I have found a quicker route? Did I waste too much time? Could I have run that little bit faster? Or perhaps…" an idea had suddenly struck him ""Perhaps I never should have wished him away in the first place. Or that I should never have given up and taken the crystal."

"Stop it!" Sarah screamed, reeling on him and shoving him away from her as hard as she could.

He threw back his head and laughed.

"You're so cruel" she whispered, half to herself, this only caused him to laugh harder as he vanished into thin air.

He was still laughing when he reappeared in the castle. When he returned the queen was waiting for him in the throne room, which was now full of goblins, who were sitting around playing cards, drinking ale and generally making a nuisance of themselves. The royal couple simply ignored them. The queen was sitting on his throne again, the beast at her feet and she stroked his fur absentmindedly.

"Enjoy your little jaunt?" she wanted to know what they wanted. She didn't trust them.

"It was pleasant enough."

"What did they want?" apart from for her occasional amusement she tended to avoid all contact with the dirty little humans and she didn't understand why her husband didn't do the same. Their kind had already done them enough damage to last a lifetime.

"He" Jareth said as he nudged the beast with his foot, which earned him a vicious growl, which the queen made up for with a soft pat to his head "is to stay away from the encampment during daylight hours."

"Why?" the Queen's voice was hard, she liked to indulge her pet.

"I've made an agreement."

"With her." It was more of a statement than a question and she didn't need to wait for a reply "I've never understood what you see in those girls."

"They're so brief. Their lives, they only last a moment. One moment they're here, the next they're dead and forgotten." He paused for a minute thoughtfully "It amuses me. The way they are so fragile, you don't even need to try to destroy them."

The Queen laughed. Her husband had had mistresses before and he would have them again. This Beth overestimated her importance. He would tire of her soon.

"Well I suppose darling" she said after a time "you must have some form of hobby."


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a hard day followed by a hard night, but eventually it ended.

A pinprick of light heralded the dawn that morning, though few were around to see it. Sarah didn't see it, she was deeply asleep, the terrors of the Goblin King and Queen for now forgotten while she was lost in slumber. Beth didn't see the sun rise either, she had cried herself to sleep hours ago. David however did, he watched it rise above the horizon until it became so bright that he couldn't bear to look at it any longer. During his nightly patrol he had been watching the sky for hours deep in thought.

There was much to do that day.

Beth had made an announcement first thing that morning; the camp had to be made secure. The beast, while being large could climb, so all the branches in the trees surrounding the encampment which could possibly support it's weight had to be cut down, lest it managed to make it's way up into the living area. The thought of the massacre which would occur made everybody's blood run cold and everybody was doing there bit to help out.

Sarah had been paired to work with David and she didn't think that it was by chance, despite his gruffness he seemed to be growing fonder of the younger girl. Sarah reminded him of a little sister that he had left behind in the aboveground. She was carrying the branches that he chopped down to a large pile in the centre of the clearing which was supposed to be a bonfire. However the two men who were trying to light it were having difficulties due to the previous night's rain.

"Ow! Stop it!" Sarah's laugh was contagious and David joined in as he continued to flick small nuts, which resembled tiny purple acorns, at Sarah from his vantage point up in the tree.

"If you don't stop it David, so help me I'll…."

"You'll do what?" He scoffed good naturedly as he plucked another nut and threw it at her gently, making it bounce off the top of her head. He laughed until Sarah grabbed a handful of acorns from the forest floor and hurled them back at him. He roared with laughter, while Sarah giggled on the ground six feet below him.

Then he stopped.

The easy grin dropped off his face and his expression darkened as he threw another branch to the ground. Sarah turned around to see what he was looking at, half expecting the Goblin King to be standing behind her as she couldn't think of anything else which would have such a severe impact on David's mood. She didn't realise that she had been holding her breath until she released it, relaxed. It was only Beth. She was walking across the clearing, deep in conversation with Abigail, who had spent the night looking after Alice, who was still incapable of speech after finding her friend's body.

Beth, much to Sarah's surprise, was dressed up. Instead of her usual functional uniform, of dirty jeans and raggy tops, she was wearing a clean, simple though very pretty pale blue linen dress, the wide sleeves of which were billowing in the wind.

She was going to see the Goblin King.

Sarah was worried. She didn't know the details of the trade between Beth and the Goblin King, and although she hadn't known the girl long she knew that she would give her life if it meant that the others were kept safe. What if she never came back? If this trade involved Beth giving herself to the Goblin King he could turn her into, well god only knows what. After all Sarah hadn't even seen half of the creatures residing in the Labyrinth. Judging by the look on David's face, he probably wasn't the best person to ask about Beth, however Sarah was determined to know if she was going to be alright, and Sarah really didn't have anybody else to turn to. However when she saw the hurt and anger in David's face as he watched Beth walk away, Sarah's courage failed. She would ask him later when the bonfire had been lit and he'd had a rest and something to eat. And hopefully he'd be in a better mood.

She eventually cornered him just after sundown, by which time Sarah's anxiety had increased tenfold. It wasn't like Beth to miss curfew, infact it was completely out of character for the older girl.

"David?" Sarah asked tentatively.

He was lost in his own dream-world and didn't hear her speak.

"David!" She called again, waving her hand in front of his eyes.

He looked up with a mock glare.

"What's up?" he asked her, staring off into the distance after seeing the agitated look on her face.

Sarah really really didn't want to ask David about Beth, or the Goblin King. At every point during the day when either of them had been mentioned in passing conversation, his face had turned so dark and she could have sworn that his left eye almost began to twitch. She screwed up her courage to the sticking place and prepared to face the lion.

"I'm worried about Beth. She isn't back yet."

"She won't be back tonight" he said quietly, almost without emotion. He was a lot calmer than she expected. "Beth will remain in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City tonight."

"I'm worried about you too" Sarah coaxed, trying to get him to open up a little more.

"Don't be" he replied gruffly.

"I can't help it. David I'm so scared" tears were threatening to fall but she blinked them away, "first Mary, then you and Beth! You look as though you haven't slept, and I know for a fact that you've barely eaten all day."

"You been watching me?" he grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes and she didn't return his smile. "Sarah, I'm fine" he insisted, preparing to walk away.

But she stopped him. "Why did you break up with Beth?" she demanded, though not unkindly.

"I really don't want to talk about this."

"Because it doesn't seem to have made either of you happy" she continued.

"Beth chose her bed, and she can ruddy well lie in it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked feeling frustrated as she watched David's back retreat down the walkway.

"Just let it go Sarah!" he called as he disappeared into the darkness.

She sat there for a while, mulling things over in the darkness, but she couldn't make sense of what was going on. There was a hole in the middle of the puzzle and nobody seemed willing to fill her in.

Sarah didn't like being on patrol, nobody did really. Watching incase some nightmarish monster attacked was nobody's idea of fun. Normally those on patrol would gather in groups and spend the time chatting and playing cards, occasionally wandering the dark platforms. But due to recent events the group tonight was sombre, and nobody really knew what to talk about. Sarah didn't really want to join in their awkward conversations, it was simply too depressing.

It was very still out. Almost too still. It was the calm after the storm Sarah mused. Everything was so messed up and nobody seemed to know how to fix it. Mary was dead, and the beast could be upon them at any moment, Beth and David were in pieces, and nobody knew what to do to make it all better.

Sarah shivered; she'd been sitting outside too long. It was when she stood up that she heard the noise. Like a twig or a branch snapping. She looked down, hoping to see Beth returning, but there was nothing in the darkness below her. But she did catch some movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked closer she could see nothing. She ran to find the others, even if it was just her imagination playing tricks on her, they all needed to be on guard, just on the off chance that it wasn't all in her mind. She turned a corner, to pass an empty hut and nearly went flying off the edge of the walkway. When she tripped over his legs, David, who was sitting alone on the platform, grabbed the waistband of her jeans as she fell. Instead of hurtling down onto the forest floor she slammed against the wooden platform, bruising her shins and grazing her arms, which was preferable to falling to her death, though it still hurt like hell.

"You okay?" he asked cautiously.

Sarah nodded as she stood up, wincing as she moved her sore limbs. She would feel worse in the morning.

"What's the rush?" said David as she brushed herself off slowly.

"I heard a noise below, and I thought I saw something down there."

"I don't know" she felt really stupid, like a child being spooked by goblins, though goblins were real, if you knew where to look. "Whatever it was, it was large."

"It was probably just a deer or something" he reassured her, stroking her arm gently "wait here, I'll go warn the others, just incase."

After he had gone Sarah hugged herself trying to keep warm. The night felt colder now, and darker, as if somebody had put out all the stars. It was a horrible oppressive feeling. She looked down at the forest floor, though there was nothing down there for her to see.

She heard another twig snap.

There was definitely something down there. As she peered into the dark she could hear her heart pounding wildly in her chest, so loud that she was convinced that whatever was down there could probably hear it too. She heard the wind whisper her name and the hairs upon her neck stood up. She stood there, frozen in terror as she listened more closely, until she heard it again.

"Sar-wah."

"Ludo" she whispered to herself softly. There wasn't a monster down there, well there was but it was "Ludo!" she called joyously.

She heard his answering cry "Sar-wah! Sar-wah friend."

"Ludo, Ludo where are you?" she couldn't see anything below on the forest floor.

"Ludo lost. Ludo scared."

As always his speech was slow and simple, like a three year old and despite herself Sarah smiled, though nobody could see it. Sarah's heart went out to the poor creature. He must have wandered so far away from his home to find her. She wondered where Hoggle and Sir Didymus were, whether they were scouring the labyrinth looking for her, or whether they had simply gone home.

His voice snapped her back from her thoughts "Where's Sar-wah?"

"I'm up here, in the trees!" She hurried along the platform towards the ladders and stopped as she heard a low gurgling sound. The kind of sound that made your blood freeze in your veins. A sound that she'd heard on her way to the encampment all those weeks ago.

The beast was down there.

"Sar-wah, Ludo scared."

"I'm coming Ludo, don't worry."

She was about to start lowering down the ladder, so her friend could climb up when David reappeared.

"You were right, the beast has been spotted. Joseph saw him earlier by the…" he trailed off when he saw the rolled up ladder in her arms. "What are you doing?" he accused her angrily.

"My friend is down there!"

"What friend?" he asked, confused.

"One that helped me in the labyrinth, his name is Ludo. I can't leave him down there to be eaten by the beast."

She didn't see his face pale in the darkness. "Sarah you can't let him up here!"

"Look, I know he looks like a monster but…"

"He is a monster!" David interrupted insistently.

"I can't just leave him down there to be eaten by the beast."

He spoke to her gently "There's only him down there" he almost begged.

"_Her majesty's pet"_

"_He's my dearest darling, his name is Ludo"_

David and the Goblin Queen's voice echoed in her mind

"Oh God" Sarah sank to the floor, dropping the ladder on the platform beside her. It all made complete sense, how could she have been so blind. She looked down at the forest floor, which was now partially lit by torchlight. She could see him standing, waiting for her in the middle of the clearing. However he looked different. Physically he was exactly the same, with his clumpy orange fur and enormous bulk. But he was moving differently, it was more fluid, not as slow as he had previously been. And behind his eyes there was a dark intelligence. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he was enjoying it.

"He's the beast isn't he?"

David nodded, "I would have told you about him sooner, if I'd known that he knew you."

"What about the other's, they're called Hoggle and Sir Didymus.?"

"Well, I don't really know either of them particularly well personally, but what I've heard is with Hoggle; what you see is pretty much what you get. He's a mean, nasty cowardly little dwarf. In the employ of the King and Queen, though he doesn't have any loyalty towards either of them. He gets manipulated by them both."

"And Sir Didymus?" she questioned anxiously.

"He's pretty much the genuine article. As you've probably noticed his life revolves around chivalry and knighthood. Helping a fair maiden on her quest would be right up his ally. If you can get him away from that bridge."

Sarah sank and rested her head on her knees, she hated this place it was just one awful thing after another. She sat like that for several minutes, David's comforting warmth beside her. They sat like that quietly for what seemed like hours. Until eventually a new day dawned above them. The horrors of yet another night were over.

She heard footsteps approaching. She looked up to see Beth standing over her, still wearing the blue dress Sarah had seen her wearing the day before.

"Is everything ok?" Beth asked a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Everything's fine!" David snapped at her, then immediately looked guilty "I see you got back in one piece" he said, slightly brusquely, by way of an apology.

"I just got back a few minutes ago" she smiled uncertainly and it didn't quite reach her eyes. She looked sad and tired.

"I just found out that the beast aided Sarah, on the Queens command, during her time in the labyrinth."

"I just never realised that they could be the same creature. He was so slow and sweet. I never even considered him capable of hurting a fly" said Sarah.

"He's a master of manipulation" comforted Beth, sitting down and wrapping an arm around the younger girl."

"And he's very clever" added David "He could fool anybody. And the Goblin Queen encourages his viciousness."

"I doubt that King Jareth discourages him" stated Beth dryly.

"What no longer anxious to sing his praises Beth?" he spat, much to Sarah's confusion "I thought he was our saviour."

"That's not fair" Beth whispered, drawing her arms around herself defensively. Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes."

Sarah was feeling distinctly uncomfortable now, being stuck between the two arguing, literally, and having absolutely no idea to what the pair was referring to. And she wasn't too sure that she really wanted to either.

"You're right it's not" he retorted as he got up and strolled off as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Both women knew it was just an act.

"He's been doing that a lot lately" Beth sighed to Sarah.

"What?"

"Storming off. Not that I blame him. Things have been a little strained between me and David lately…" she trailed off.

"You broke up" blurted out Sarah before she thought about it, and realised how uncaring it sounded.

"Yeah" admitted Beth "I guess we did. I didn't realise that you knew though."

"Everybody knows" Sarah told her apologetically, and with a slight bit more tact than her previous statement. The entire encampment had been buzzing about David and Beth all day.

"I guess it wasn't really a private affair" she conceded. Though it was a bit of an understatement considering that they had fought in front of the entire encampment.

"Beth, if you don't mind me asking, why did you and David break up?" Sarah asked cautiously.

"I don't mind you asking" she paused with a sigh, "It's not that I'm unwilling to tell you, but I really don't want to talk about it. Not tonight, or this morning now, at any rate. Ask me again sometime ok?"

"Ok."

"You look tired honey, and it's been a hard day, so don't be too long in going to bed."

"I have to stay up. I'm on patrol" Sarah informed her with a slight feeling of pride, she liked to help the group and it was rare that she got the opportunity to do anything useful.

"Well take care, I'm going to get some rest" she walked off in the opposite direction to which David had gone.

Sarah watched her go. It was such a pity that Beth and David hadn't been able to work out. They had seemed so in love. Sarah shook her head, what did she know about love? She had thought her parents had been madly in love and look how that had turned out….

* * *

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who were madly in love. And the world was a magical place, where nothing could hurt them. The colours were brighter, the air fresher and the grass greener all because they had each other.

This, however is not reality. So one day the girl did something that really hurt the boy. She didn't want to and hurting him hurt her more than she could bear. But like with many things in life she had no choice. And she kept on doing it and doing it and doing it.

And each time she did it chipped at the love they felt for each other, until little cracks started to appear. Until one day after many moons had passed in the sky above them their love shattered.

Their love was still their, in pieces. And neither of them knew how to put it back together, or how to fix it. And it hurt, it hurt both of them so much that they could hardly breath. But they could still not fix it.

Love does not conquer all.

* * *

Please feel free to leave comments on my new forum (available through the authors page!) 


	7. Chapter 7

You can adjust to just about anything, granted you don't struggle against it. Sometimes you have no choice. You can get used to not waking up to somebody, wrapped in the warmth of their arms. You can get used to not passing somebody you used to see everyday.

You can even get used to a new world.

David had gotten used to not seeing Beth the moment that he opened his eyes every morning. It had taken weeks of bleary eyed confusion, wondering where she was. When he opened his eyes now, he expected to be alone. And he was.

Sarah had gotten used to her new home. She knew and had finally accepted the fact that there was no way for her to return to the aboveground. It didn't mean that she liked it, or that she wouldn't have sold her soul to return to her parents, with a baby in her arms, but she was now using her energies to improving the encampment, rather than trying to escape it.

Part of her still hated herself for what had happened, and when she went to visit Toby in the city she was still wracked with guilt. He no longer recognised her face, this happened to all the Goblins, David has assured her, they simply forgot their previous lives.

All the members of the encampment have been through this transition, once they realised there was no way for them to return home or to change their loved ones back they started working towards making the encampment a safer place. After all, everybody needs a home, even if it is not the one you would have chosen.

Two months had passed since Mary had been laid in the ground and life had moved on. Alice, who had witnessed the scene of her demise, was now returning to her normal state, though she still seemed to be rather shaken up. She also seemed rather lonely, missing her best friend. Beth did her best to keep her company, though Sarah suspected that it was half to keep an eye on Alice and half to distract herself from the absence of David. On the other hand, Sarah was rarely out of David's company these days, leading to all manner of speculation throughout the camp; however there was nothing to it. There was no attraction between the pair, they were simply becoming the best of friends, and many of the activities that Beth had once planned had now been taken over by Sarah.

She was finally enjoying some well earned peace and quiet, sitting on a patch of soft grass in the ruined monastery, soaking in the early summer sun, when a shadow fell over her face.

She glared up at whoever was blocking her light, squinting in the brightness. "Do you mind?"

"Nope, not one bit" David replied cockily. "Come on, get up, I've got something to show you."

"What now?" she groaned, "I only just got to sit down"

"Trust me, you want to see this!" he assured her.

Sarah didn't trust him; in fact she was highly sceptical that he had anything that she actually _wanted_ to see. Last week he'd shown her some 'amazing' toadstools with the ability to completely heal burns. However the only side effect was that they smelled like the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Seeing the unconvinced look on Sarah's face, and remembering how unimpressed she'd been with last weeks toadstools he decided to reassure her. "It's nothing weird! I promise."

She sighed impatiently as she stood up, still not convinced "Why don't I believe you?" she replied jokingly, and she started to brush the dirt off her jeans and shirt, glancing across the clearing for somebody who she could inform of their outing.

Beth was watching with a frown. It was understandable that she was jealous, Sarah concluded, after all, it wasn't that long ago that it would have been her that David would have been dragging into the woods. "We're just going for a walk" Sarah yelled across to her "Be back in a couple of hours, okay?"

Beth nodded and turned away.

Since their break up there had been an unofficial dividing of the camp into Beth's side and David's side. Everybody still spoke to each other but Beth had become fairly withdrawn from certain people, and Sarah was included in that group. Not that Sarah really minded, after all David was her best friend. Sarah had realised that recently Beth had noticed how close she and David had become and the older girl had stopped confiding in her. However David's closeness more than made up for any distance on Beth's part.

The forest really was beautiful this time of year; Sarah smiled to herself as she followed David down a small winding path. The sunlight poured through the trees, providing nourishment for all kind of wildflowers and exotic-looking plants. David was whistling cheerfully and seemed to be more relaxed than he had been since Sarah's arrival in the labyrinth. As normal he wasn't overly chatty, but he broke the silence to answer Sarah's queries into how much longer the trip would take and to point out trees that he found interesting or useful. They were walking deep into the heart of the forest, much deeper than Sarah had ever previously ventured. The paths were becoming more and more unclear and more than once Sarah began to wonder if they were losing their way, but David continued, unconcerned and he seemed to know where he was going, and as Sarah didn't think she could find her way back she had to trust him. And she did, with her life, if need be.

The forest was becoming lighter and more airy, compared to the part of the forest that they were currently in the area containing the encampment felt constricted and oppressive. As Sarah and David wandered deeper and deeper into this part of the forest she could feel her worries peeling away like pollen floating off onto the wind. A soft breeze blew her hair into her face and she lazily pushed it back, feeling better than she had in months, though this contentment niggled in the back of her mind. The sad thing was, she reflected, was that she was coming to see the labyrinth as home. Her memories of the aboveground were becoming hazier and hazier, she could still remember her mother, father and Karen, but she was forgetting things too. The exact lines on her father's face, her mother's tinkling laugh and her step-mother's warm smile. They were all now passing beyond recollection.

Her thoughts were interrupted as David pulled aside some low branches and ushered Sarah under the brightly coloured leaves, which tickled her neck as she ducked below them.

"We're here," he announced.

It was like something out of a dream. They were standing underneath an old oak tree at the edge of a forest glade. The sun was warm on Sarah's face, but there was a deliciously cool breeze, which was causing the flowers to nod and whisper gently to each other, and if she hadn't known better she could have sworn that they were gossiping about her. But Sarah, who had loved "Alice and Wonderland" when she was younger, had asked Beth and David about the existence of almost every creature in the tale, and although certain plants here could watch you, none of them could talk. A pair of rabbits scampered around playfully, blissfully unaware that they were being observed, until one of them glanced towards where Sarah was standing and they fled in terror from those intruding into their peaceful world. Sarah stared in awe, for it was the most beautiful place that she had ever seen.

"Oh David, it's...magical!" she sighed, before breaking into a huge smile as she watched the fairies that had now arrived dart from flower to flower, looking for nectar to take home to drink with their evening meal.

"You ain't seen nothing yet, kiddo" he smiled back at her before nodding at the far side of the clearing.

Sarah's eyes widened in astonishment at what lie before her.

Even years later on her deathbed, the memory of what she saw that afternoon still brought tears to her eyes, and though she would visit that clearing many times throughout her life she never forgot that feeling the first time that she laid eyes upon them. Two unicorns stood shyly under the shade of a large tree, venturing out into the sunlight cautiously, whickering to each other softly. They were so white that the sun seemed to reflect off them and they appeared to be almost bathed in light. It was a heart breaking beauty though, for nothing could ever compare to these magical creatures.

"Aren't they incredible?" David whispered to Sarah conspiratorially, a huge grin on his face, and Sarah found the expression mirrored on her own.

"I've never even imagined anything like it" she replied, saddened as she watched them slowly walk away and then vanish into the thick undergrowth from whence they came.

"This is to be our secret!" he suddenly rounded on her and she'd never heard such firmness in his voice before, "Only the two of us can know, I've never shown anybody this, not even Beth."

"Of course David, but why?"

He sat down on a dark log, covered in acid green moss and Sarah perched next to him.

"These creatures, they're so innocent, so pure, unlike the rest of the creatures here. If the Goblin King and Queen were to find them…I don't know what they would do."

"The Goblin King doesn't know they're here? Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"I guess it is a bit strange, I always figured that they were brought through from the aboveground with the rest, by accident I guess."

"A mistake…" Sarah spoke thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"If the Goblin King and Queen are capable of making the mistake of carrying unicorns without knowing it…We need more information…" she trailed off.

"But why?" David looked puzzled.

"Because knowledge is power," she said decisively "And we don't have any."

"Power?"

"Or knowledge, for that matter" she replied wryly.

A light flashed in David's eyes "Before us, before the encampment, I mean. There were a group of people who lived in the castle. With the permission of the King and Queen, of course. But then something happened. One of them did something, I don't know what, maybe they offended or threatened the Queen, like I said, I don't know the details. But they killed them, every last human in the castle, save one. He's practically mad now. Lives on the borders of the forest near the Bog of Eternal Stench. And I once heard him speak of a room, an enormous room filled floor to ceiling with books."

"A library!" Sarah whispered her eyes shining with possibility.

"Many of the books, written by humans for generations, detailing the entire history of the Labyrinth, as well of that of the Underground and even the Goblin King and Queen."

"We need to find this room. We need to find directions on how to get there."

"And how to get into the castle unnoticed, we can hardly stroll up to the door and ask for permission to peruse their library and look for weak points, now can we?"

"And then we have to get there."

The walk back to the encampment was mostly undertaken in silence as both David and Sarah were lost in their thoughts, pondering on the possibility of breaking into the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. To David's knowledge, no such feat had ever been embarked upon. As they reached the borders of the encampment Sarah broke the silence.

"We should ask Beth for help. Nobody knows the labyrinth like she does."

"No" David's tone was forbidding "she's the last person we should include in this."

"I think she could really help us on this."

"Trust me, she wouldn't. She would interpret this sort of action as war mongering, and she is desperate to prevent any conflict between us and the Goblin King. You do understand the relationship between Beth and the Goblin King?"

"No, nobody's told me anything. It does appear to be slightly odd though."

"Beth and King Jareth have a unique…" he paused, searching for the right word "arrangement. When the encampment needs something from him, and we frequently do, or if he needs placating over something she… I don't know how to put this. She…" he paused again "She offers herself to him"

"You mean she sleeps with the Goblin King?" Sarah's face wrinkled up in horror, which melted away seeing the pained look on David's face.

"It's done for the good of the encampment Sarah, not because she wants to, I want you to remember that next time you see Beth. She's sacrificed a lot for us."

"Including you" she half whispered to herself, as reality dawned on Sarah "That's why you guys broke up"

"Beth and the King Jareth's arrangement was formed long before I entered the picture, and Beth refused to change a perfectly good alliance simply for the sake of my feelings. And I couldn't stand by and watch her go to him any longer."

"Oh, David." Sarah sighed as she wrapped her arms around him "We'll fix this, somehow we'll make it right."

In the meadows beyond the forest containing the encampment in the long grass, near the spot where Sarah had first encountered the Goblin Queen, laid Beth, basking in the golden afternoon sun. Alice had offered to come with her, but Beth had declined, wishing for solitude so she could gather her thoughts.

She missed David.

She hadn't seen their break up coming and it had hurt, gut wrenching and tear jerking. When he had said he'd had enough she didn't believe him, after all he'd said it before. And now she really missed him, but she was too proud to say so. It would change nothing. She could not break off her liaison with the Goblin King and David would not take her back unless she did.

Her musings were interrupted as a shadow fell over her face, blocking out the sun. Beth jumped as she realised that a figure was standing over her.

"Hello Jareth" she said calmly, regaining her composure.

"Beth." He greeted her almost mechanically as he sat down next to her. His long legs bending in powerful arcs, the silk of his grey britches clinging to his every curve, his black shirt, unbuttoned to almost his waist, moving softly in the wind.

"What do you want?" she asked, almost not caring.

"Why Beth, what makes you think that I want anything?"

"Past experience" she muttered, more to herself.

"Beth, I'm hurt. Perhaps I simply wanted to gaze upon your beautiful face, hear the lilt of your voice." He paused wickedly "I heard you and your little boyfriend broke up" He remarked as if speaking of the weather.

"Why are you here Jareth?" Beth sighed, already tired of his games.

He turned and looked at her, his eyes meeting hers.

"I think I'm in love with you."

Beth burst out into hoots of laughter. All the pent up stress and anger was let out as she doubles over until her sides ached and there were tears in her eyes at Jareth's declaration.

"No you don't" she told him when she finally stopped laughing.

"Well I might" he replied petulantly.

"Don't be ridiculous Jareth" she told him "you don't even know what love is."

"Well it never really seemed like and interesting subject to study" he said, inspecting his nails as if the conversation bored him. "So why did you and your man decide to part ways then?"

Beth glared at him "Wouldn't you like to know."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with me now would it?" He feigned innocence, "Or perhaps he has a newer model, from what I've heard."

"I hope you're having fun!" she told him angrily.

I'm just full of the joys of spring.." he replied, "Little birdies flying around…lambs skipping…new life and all that…"

With that remark, he simply disappeared.


	8. Chapter 8

Jareth rematerialised on top of the highest tower in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City where his wife was waiting for him.

"Well?" she demanded, standing up quickly from where she was seated. She was dressed in a fabulous gown, which would have been the height of fashion in 18th century France. It was made from peach and ivory silk and decadently embroidered with thousands of tiny pearls. She gathered her skirts as she stood, flashing her ankles demurely as she faced her husband.

He nodded and grinned.

Seeing his conformation a radiant smile grew across her face as she threw her hands up and danced around excitedly. "It's happening" she sang "after all this time, its finally happening." A matching smile appeared on Jareth's face and he lifted his wife into the air and spun her around. As he put her back down he looked over to where she had been sitting, there was a large silver bowl, half filled with water placed upon a white cloth. Arranged around the bowl were several jars of brightly coloured sand, azure blues, crimsons and bright shades of yellow.

"Have you obtained a reading yet, my dear?" he enquired as he tenderly brought her hand up to his lips for a gentle kiss.

"Not yet" she replied "I was just about to begin."

"May I observe you?" he asked, noting his wife's surprised expression; it had been many many years since he had last requested this. Despite the unexpectedness of his desire to watch her he did not believe he would be turned down, his wife rarely refused him.

"Of course" she acquiesced before ritually kneeling down in front of the bowl. She picked up a jar of startlingly white sand and poured it into her other hand, she then repeated this process with every other colour that she had around her. As Jareth watched intently she let the grains slip through her fingers and into the water, it immediately changed colour and she peered intently into the shapes forming. Jareth was mesmerized by what he saw, random images which made no sense to him, it was an art he had never mastered; he just didn't have his wife's patience. He soon got bored of looking over her shoulder and started to ponder how he could improve his labyrinth, the last girl had managed to get all the way through, and it was verging on embarrassing. He had definitely decided to make the walls move faster and begun to ponder whether he should do away with the helping hands. After all they were far too damn helpful in his opinion. Then his wife finally looked away from the bowl.

She stood up, more gracefully than the last time and it was his turn to demand of her "Well?" his voice rang out through the night.

"I could see nothing" she confessed "the future is hidden from us."

"It's not the first time that our path has been concealed my dear, it probably means nothing." He reassured her, though he wasn't convinced himself, and by the expression on her face neither was she.

"Nothing will go wrong this time" he reassured her again "I promise you that."

Some events, whether for good or for bad were meant to happen. When the armies of their enemies had risen up against them so long ago she had been unable to foresee it, again with the death of their son, when there was no changing the future his wife's gift was blocked. They could not see the future and there was no changing it. He voiced this last thought to his wife and she accepted it. Normally she rallied against things she could not change, she hated to feel powerless, very rarely did she simply have the wisdom to accept them.

He offered her his hand and she smiled as she accepted it. The rare moments of tenderness between the couple would have shocked most who knew them; it was generally assumed that theirs was a marriage of convenience, though nothing could be further than the truth. Hand in hand the pair descended the stairs back down into the castle.

True to her word; Sarah mentioned nothing of their plan to Beth, though she did feel a slight pang of guilt keeping things from the older girl, who had once been so kind to her. Sarah's feelings were alleviated when she found out that she was not the only one keeping secrets.

Beth was walking along the platform with Catherine, a good natured red-head who had been a scullery maid in Edwardian England; she was slightly older than Beth and had always been one of Beth's particular confidantes. The two girls were discussing something earnestly, though Sarah, who was dangling her legs off the platform couldn't hear what they were saying. As the pair walked past her, their conversation ceased as they smiled at the younger girl and they didn't take it up again until they were out of earshot.

Sarah, who was a naturally curious girl, wondered what they were talking about; it was obviously something that they didn't want her to hear. However she dismissed any real suspicion from her mind, they were probably talking about David and didn't want it to get back to him, or perhaps Beth had another appointment with the Goblin King. She tended to be quite secretive about it these days; she was a nice girl and didn't like to rub David's face in it. Sarah didn't feel the need to tell David about Beth's liaisons with the Goblin King, David's face tended to tighten whenever his name was mentioned, and Sarah had no desire to bring up old wounds.

David had been more like his old self recently, since they had formed their, to be honest slightly sketchy, plan he had been more purposeful. The void that had appeared when he had left Beth had finally been filled. He had been incredibly busy over the last few days, constantly sneaking off in the hunt for the man that could lead them into the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. Yesterday he had cheerfully informed Sarah that his hunt had been successful and that he had found the old man's hut. It was located in the forest near the Bog of Eternal stench, though was a safe distance from the bog and more importantly wasn't downwind. He would take Sarah there tomorrow as soon as she had finished her duties; much to her dismay it was Sarah's turn in the kitchens and she would be expected to help prepare the morning and afternoon meals. Sarah didn't really enjoy cooking; even when she'd been at home she'd never really enjoyed helping Karen in the kitchen. And it was worse in the underground. She'd never understood how much she'd taken a dishwasher or a microwave for granted. The encampment's kitchen was inside the only room in the old monastery that still had a roof. Sarah hated working in the kitchen as she had very few culinary skills to speak of, and because of her lack in expertise in the kitchen she was generally called upon to do the menial tasks such as peeling potatoes or fetching wood for the fires that heated the ovens. However there was a good point about her kitchen work, which was the gossip. While spending time in the kitchens, everybody enjoyed a good chat and it was nice to get together with the other girls, even if she was the youngest. She had missed their companionship recently, having spent so much time with David.

However today Sarah was anxious to be finished. She hurried through her chores with a vigour that very much surprised Marianne, the encampment's chief cook. Eventually she let Sarah head off early, to Sarah's extreme gratitude. As soon as she was finished she shimmied up the ladder and ran along the platform to David's room.

"I'm here! I'm here! Let's go!" she called as she burst through the door.

Into a room where David and Beth were discussing something earnestly, though as Sarah noisily entered the room they both went silent. Sarah kicked herself mentally, why didn't she have the good sense (or manners) to knock and wait for an answer, like most normal, reasonable adults? What must Beth think she wondered? The encampment was already rife with rumours about David's supposed relationship with Sarah.

"I am so sorry!" Sarah cringed as she started to back out of the room, slowly making apologetic faces to David, who rolled his eyes behind Beth's back.

"Don't worry Sarah" the older girl smiled. "We can leave it for another day, and I have things to go and sort out anyway."

"You sure?"

"Of course" Beth smiled at her more warmly than she had for weeks; though she seemed distracted, "you seem so anxious to get to wherever you're going…" she trailed off questioningly.

"Oh, it's nothing important" Sarah replied breezily, feeling slightly uncomfortable about how easily that the lie had just slipped off her tongue. "We were just going to go for a walk. David's found this really cool plant he wants to show me."

David joined in quickly "It's been growing from the purple acorns. I think that it's an intermediary life form between the acorns and a tree."

"Oh, really?" To Sarah's surprise Beth actually sounded interested in David's plant talk. Normally when he started rambling on to Sarah her normal reaction was to try really hard to suppress the urge to gag him. She looked out of the window for a few minutes, watching Ben dragging a large bag across from the storage bunker to the kitchens, pausing every few minutes to wipe the sweat from his brow; it was an unusually warm day.

When she tuned back into David's conversation he was discussing the finer points of cross-pollination and even Beth was starting to look slightly bored. So Sarah decided to rescue them both. "David, shouldn't we be heading off now?"

Soon the pair were traipsing through the forest at a safe distance from the bog of eternal stench.

"It was nice to see you and Beth getting along so well" Sarah commented innocently.

"Leave it Sarah" was the growl she got in response.

"I was just saying."

"Well don't" he snapped.

"What did she want anyway?" Sarah was pretty curious about this, David and Beth both went out of their way to avoid each other whenever possible, and the fact that she would seek him out for a conversation was pretty unusual.

"She didn't say, she was acting rather oddly though, if you ask me." Said David, in a tone that warned Sarah that the discussion was over.

They continued walking and Sarah was eyeing up the large cobwebs apprehensively. She really really didn't want to think of the size of spider that made those. However she couldn't stop herself, imagining how it would creep along, and as she shuddered she saw something dark and hairy in the corner of her eye. She couldn't help herself. She screamed. Then turned to see something resembling a deformed squirrel scampering up a tree, chattering to itself, completely oblivious to the trouble its presence was causing.

As David could see that Sarah was in no immediate danger he wasn't overly disposed to be comforting. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded.

"I thought I saw a spider" she replied and as she said it she realised first of all what an idiot she was and secondly she sounded like a completely pathetic girly girl.

David just laughed "Oh Sarah, you are such a ninny."

She rolled her eyes inwardly at herself. Sometimes she was such a fool. But she carried on walking, taking care to stick close to David; it was still possible that one of those spiders could make an appearance. After they had been walking for little over an hour they arrived at a tiny ram-shackled hut. It was so old and tilting at such an alarming angle that Sarah wondered how it could possibly still be standing.

"Is this it?" she asked, not relishing the thought of going inside.

"Yup. Shall we knock?"

As David approached the house Sarah had the opportunity to have another good look. It was short and squat made from dark wood with a mossy roof. Though she was no expert, Sarah suspected that it was goblin architecture; it had that slap-dash look about it.

She watched from a slight distance as David banged on the door and it was opened by a man in dark velvet robes with dark hair. But despite the appearance of youth from a distance, as she grew closer she could see that his brown hair was riddled with grey. His face had the fine lines of age, and the look in his eyes. The blue orbs were haunted, he looked so deeply tired.

"Yes?" he demanded, blocking the entrance to his home as he eyed the strangers suspiciously. It had been a long time since anyone had called upon him.

"My name is David, and this is Sarah. We're from the encampment."

"The encampment you say?" he paused thoughtfully, "well you'd better come in." He threw the door wide open and walked back inside, not pausing to see if they were following. Sarah and David glanced at each other and he took her hand in his as they crossed the threshold.

Inside was the most incredible arrangement of oddities that Sarah had ever seen. Except where the fireplace, windows and doors were, every inch of the room was covered in shelves. On the shelves were things Sarah couldn't even begin to understand the significance of: rolled up pieces of parchment, leather-bound books, a stack of crystals, jars of brightly coloured sand and to Sarah's disgust, what appeared to be pickled goblin heads. There were also several tables in the room, every single one of them covered with piles of books and stacks of parchment. The books and papers had also overflowed off the tables and onto the floor, so Sarah and David had to slowly make their way across the room, trying not to knock anything over.

"Do take a seat" their host gestured, to two wooden chairs by the fire as he sat in the third. When they were all sitting comfortably he spoke "Well then what can I do for you?"

"What's your name?" Sarah asked on impulse.

He looked surprised "It's been a long long time since anybody asked me that. A long long time" he repeated to himself. He paused for a moment, as if trying to remember "Russell" he told them, the name passing his lips for the first time in decades "they called me Russell. I was a viscount you know" he added thoughtfully, it had meant something once upon a time. It didn't anymore. He looked at Sarah, a clarity coming over his mind "why are you here?" he demanded.

"We need information" Sarah explained "about the Goblin King and Queen."

"You came to the wrong place. I wouldn't cross them for all the world. And even if I would, I'm no scholar. There were men and women who dedicated years of study to their majesties and even they only had a limited understanding."

"You used to live in the castle though?" David pressed and Russell nodded mutely. "Can you tell us about the library there?"

There was a look of astonishment on Russell's face "Well you could certainly find any knowledge that you would seek there."

"We want to get there and preferably without being seen" said Sarah "and that's why we need your help."

"There's a tunnel. It goes from the Goblin City straight into the castle. None of the goblins know about it." As he spoke he went and pulled out a couple of pieces of parchment from 2 random piles and brought them over. One was a map of the Goblin City, the other a floor plan for the Castle. "The tunnel comes out here." He tapped above a room on the castle "and the library is here" he pointed out another nearby room. He then went on to explain how to find the entrance to the tunnel in the Goblin City.

"So you two are from the rebel encampment?" Russell later enquired as he put a soot covered kettle over the fire and proceeded to make some tea. "Well, I never thought that lot would prosper you know. Still living in that drafty old castle I suppose?" Not waiting for an answer he continued muttering to himself.

But David interrupted him "What castle?"

"So you don't live there then?"

"No" replied David "But what castle?"

"Well it's obviously of no importance. What was the weather like outside by the way?"

"Its fine" Sarah told him impatiently "but you have to tell us about this castle."

"You have to understand you see" Russell said urgently "things were so much different back then. Not like things are today. The humans, we were all divided into two groups. Us, and we lived in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City and the wishers, who dwelt in the Castle on Mount Fornost."

"Is it still there?" asked David "and how would we find it?"

"Just follow the main road north out of the Goblin City, until you reach Mount Fornost. Then you climb it until you reach the stone circle, after then you want to march east for half a day, eventually you will see the castle."

"Thank you" said David gratefully.

"But wait" said Sarah slightly confused "So you didn't wish anybody away? The how did you end up in the Labyrinth?"

"I most certainly did not wish anybody away! I could never do such a dreadful thing." Sarah and David looked away, both ashamed of their actions, but he didn't notice and continued "I was born within the walls of the labyrinth. As was my father and my father's father, and my father's father's father. For over a thousand generations my family have lived in the labyrinth, and nobody has ever wished anybody away" he told them proudly.

"Then how did they get into the labyrinth?" Sarah asked impatiently "surely somebody wished somebody else away in order to get here."

"Did you say it was windy out?" Russell asked vacantly "I had hoped to go for a walk this afternoon."

"No it's not windy" she said brusquely "How did they get into the labyrinth?"

"Why they came through when the world was split. My people have been the loyal followers of the Goblin King and Queen since the beginning of time. I thought you knew that."

"We didn't" said David.

"Then when you reach the library I suggest that you read up on your history."

"Thank you so much" said David politely, but we really should be going."

"Would you like to come back with us?" Sarah invited impulsively. She didn't like the thought of leaving him all alone. Nobody should be alone, not if you could help it.

"No, I like it here" he replied "And I couldn't possibly…No. I like the solitude." With that he turned from them dismissively.

They left Russell's feeling happy with their success, and more importantly with copies of the maps of the Goblin City and the location of the library. Tomorrow they would go.


	9. Chapter 9

Sarah groaned as she sat down back at the encampment, her feet were swollen and she was aching all over.

"I'm so tired," she complained to David, who simply laughed at her.

"You should do more exercise then, you lazy sow!" He teased, dodging as she threw the boot she had just been wearing at him.

"So what's next then?" She asked with forced cheerfulness "creeping around the goblin city?"

"No" replied David, scratching his head thoughtfully. "I think that we should check out this castle. We need to relocate. Despite what Beth says, I don't trust King Jareth to keep his word, and we can't just wait like sitting ducks for the Beast and god knows what else to come after us."

"Good plan" said Sarah. What he had said made complete sense, but there was one teeny tiny flaw.

"Yeah?" he asked feeling pleased with himself, compliments were few and far between these days.

"Yeah" replied Sarah, then paused thoughtfully. "Good enough to start including other people." She saw him, preparing to disagree, David hated doing things by committee. "No, David, I'm right about this!" She raised her hand to hold off his objections "We have to have some support on this. We can't just tell the whole encampment to pack up and move on our say-so. It's too big a decision for just us. And you have to admit it would be a lot safer for a group of us to go up there."

He relented "Yeah, I guess…safety in numbers, I suppose." Sarah was pretty sure that he was only agreeing because he couldn't come up with a counter-argument, but she was sure that she was right.

So the next morning, unwilling as he was David called a meeting. It was the first time that Sarah had seen everybody altogether since the night of her arrival. She was amazed by how few of them there really were. Sarah watched as David told them the train of events that had led to the current meeting; Sarah's wish for more information about the Goblin King and Queen, David's suggestion of finding the library and their visit to see Russell and his tale of a castle in the mountains, once inhabited by humans.

"How do you know we can trust him?" one voice shouted from the crowd.

"Well, basically we don't" replied David frankly, running his hand through his hair. "But we can't just sit here and wait for the beast!" There was a general murmur of agreement "So what I propose," he continued "is that tomorrow morning a small group of us walk up to this castle and check it out."

"And then what?" another voice rang out, this time it was familiar, it belonged to Beth, "We all just pack up and move into this castle? You have got to be kidding me."

"Well it's better than sitting around here waiting to be massacred" another voice added their support.

"We're not going to be massacred" Beth countered smoothly "the Goblin King…" Before she had time to finish her sentence she was interrupted.

"He's not somebody we can trust!"

"He hasn't let us down yet!" she replied angrily.

"Yet is the operative word though isn't it Beth?" David chimed in, "you may be able to trust him. I doubt he would let anything happen to you." The words were said with such bitter insinuation that many of the crowd almost winced.

"He won't let anything happen to the rest of you either" she replied.

He looked straight at her, his anger subsiding "I don't trust him" he told her simply.

Despite David's cool tone Beth was still fuming "Of course you don't! And not for the reason that you claim. You're just jealous of the relationship between me and Jareth!"

"This isn't about that" he replied, now firing up again "that's completely beside the point!"

"I don't trust him either" Sarah joined in suddenly, "and if you trust him Beth, you're a fool."

"Leave it Beth, they're right" Catherine interceded soothingly "and you've got enough on your plate at the moment" she added with a knowing look towards the other girl.

""Fine!" she relented "looking for a new place to live: that's one thing, but sneaking into the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, it's madness…it's dangerous and….it's an act of war" she added dramatically

"Of course it's not" David scoffed.

"King Jareth wont like it" Beth warned argumentatively.

David, unfortunately took the bait, and he was angrier now than Sarah had ever seen him "Well unfortunately I'm not an expert on the Goblin King's likes and dislikes, like you Beth."

"I was just saying…"

"Well don't" he finally snapped "I would prefer the opinions of somebody who isn't whoring herself to the Goblin King." The moment the words slipped out of his lips he regretted it, he had gone too far.

Tears welled up in Beth's eyes, she had never known him to be so cruel. "Screw you" she said hoarsely as she turned and walked away "do whatever the hell you like" her retreating back told the crowd, and a couple of girls followed her. Sarah watched on as Catherine slipped a comforting arm around the other girl's waist and Beth's head sagged onto her shoulder, she looked so lost.

Sarah turned her attention back to David, who was now choosing the people who were to be in the group to go and find the castle. Sarah wasn't too sure if she was pleased to be picked or not. On one hand she really wanted to go and see the castle, after all she had earned that right, but on the other, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for the next three days.

The next morning they set off for the castle. Sarah was the only girl that had been chosen for the trek; the other half-dozen or so were the men who did most of the hunting – it had been decided that they would be the most able to defend themselves, if the need arose. Sarah hardly knew any of them with the exception of David, however they all treated her nicely making sure that she didn't get too tired, and offering her drinks. But she soon became tired of being patronised; just because she was a girl didn't mean she was weak and feeble!

She voiced her complaints to David, who replied soothingly "They're from another time Sarah, and they're just showing good manners."

"Yeah, I supposed" she muttered mutinously, but her irritation didn't lessen. David smiled warmly; not really understanding her feelings, after all his view of women was almost as warped as the other's.

They kept walking and despite her earlier protests Sarah soon became glad of the offers of drinks and rests. They had been walking up the side of a mountain for over three hours when they finally caught a glimpse of the castle, it's grey stone warm and inviting. Soon they exited the forest and were able to see it clearly. It held a defensive position, with three sides surrounded by cliffs and the main entrance facing the overgrown road which they had followed. It wasn't what Sarah had been expecting; she had imagined ruins, similar to those of the monastery near the encampment, but the castle was almost entirely intact. The roof had collapsed in a few places, and there was general debris, as time tends to gather, scattered all over the place. With a small amount of work the castle would soon be inhabitable.

"The only problem," David pointed out "is the main gate." And he was right. On closer inspection Sarah could see that the castle's main defence was broken, rotten and starting to fall of its hinges.

"Can we fix it?" she asked, a note of concern in her voice, if the gate could not be fixed the castle would be pretty much useless. They would be safer staying at the encampment, and the whole trip would have been for nothing.

"Nah" Rhett, one of the other men, replied casually "thing's rotted through; it'll have to be completely replaced."

"Can we do that?" she asked impatiently.

"Yeah, could take a couple of weeks, mind" he paused thoughtfully, "it's a big job that. Got to cut down the tree, carve the wood, get it fitted. It'll take time and effort" he grinned brightly.

"We're going to do it though?" she asked again excitedly, hoping for a real answer this time.

"Three guys have already gone in search of a suitable tree."

On his answer Sarah flung her arms around him and laughed out loud; this was brilliant! In receipt of her hug, Rhett grinned, brown hair falling in his eyes, Sarah suddenly noticed he was actually quite cute in his own way. She pulled away from him mumbling her apologies, starting to go slightly red. However when she caught the eye of David, who was watching the scene with amusement, she turned the colour of a beetroot.

However she wasn't going to let this slight mortification ruin her fantastic mood. Though she would be sad to leave the encampment, over the last six months it had become her home, the castle would be a safe haven, guarded, warm and protected.

"Are you two ready to go" David called, the rest of the men were gathered by the gate, waiting for Sarah and Rhett, who were pointedly not looking at each other. "We have to leave now if we're to make it home by nightfall. "

As always, time moved faster when you headed towards the centre of the labyrinth, however this effect was coupled with an unwritten rule of physics; time moves faster on the homeward journey compared to the journey out. Baring in mind these two facts, the journey back to the encampment seemed to take no time at all. Even still, there had been a lot of walking that day, and by the time they got back Sarah was completely exhausted. Her feet were tired and swollen inside her boots, her legs ached and her entire body was sore. In comparison her companions, who were used to walking for days at a time, were barely tired.

When they arrived back, half the encampment was in an uproar. People were running back and forth with buckets of water, and at first Sarah wondered if there was a fire. But there was no smoke, and on closer inspection the water was all being poured into a large tub with curls of steam rising from it.

As the group wandered closely they could see that the tub was nearly full and the kitchens had the fires running at full capacity, each cauldron full of bubbling water. Soon the trail of people carrying buckets slowed and then finally stopped, The tub was full. All attention seemed to be turning to Catherine, who was walking away from the crowd, concern was written all over her face. As soon as Sarah looked towards where the other girl was looking she understood the concern.

Beth was sitting on the roots of a tree, one of the giant ones that supported the structure of the encampment. Sitting, really, was a loose description, half lying was possibly more accurate. One of her hands was fiddling anxiously with a strand of her curly hair, the other was clasped tightly around the neck of the bottle. Sarah recognised the bottle instantly, it contained the moonshine liquor that one of the boys had distilled the previous year, but he had died of a fever the previous spring and nobody else knew how to make it. 'Strictly for medicinal use only' she had been told firmly on her arrival, not that Sarah would have touched a drop anyway. By the look of Beth, however, Sarah thought that she'd probably drank more than a drop, she looked completely wasted. She was unable to sit up, let alone focus. Sarah wondered why she'd been allowed to get her hands on that much liquor, the bottle she was holding had been full yesterday, and it didn't look like anybody else had been drinking.

"Come on Beth, it's time for your bath" Catherine told her gently "everything is ready." From her vantage point, Sarah was too far away to make out Beth's slurred reply.

It was really nice of everybody, Sarah thought, to run Beth a bath to try and sober her up. She'd never seen anybody have a proper bath at the encampment before, everybody normally just bathed in the river.

She turned to voice her opinions to David, but she was silenced by the look on his face, he was almost white with anger.

"Are you ok?" she asked softly, praying that he would calm down.

"Leave it Sarah" he growled, before turning and stalking back into the forest, from which they had just arrived.

"What's going on?" She asked one of the other men, she didn't know his name.

"You're young Sarah" he replied gruffly, "probably best you don't know".

Eventually Sarah went to bed, feeling frustrated, she wasn't that young after all. However she was still too young to realise that sometimes it's best not to know. After all;

Ignorance is bliss.


	10. Chapter 10

While still in her bath, Beth passed out long before David returned

At Catherine's insistence she remained in the hot water for over an hour, and this was the position that she was in when David returned.

He wasn't angry any more, Sarah noted, when he stood at her side again, he looked sad and tired, almost resigned. She didn't think that she had ever seen anybody look so wretched in her entire life.

"Will you please tell me what's going on?" She asked him desperately, she had been watching the events unfold for over an hour, and she was no closer to working out what was happening.

David sighed before he spoke "Beth is going to have a baby" he told her in a low voice, "Drinking a bottle of gin and having a very hot bath…" he paused "It's a technique women can use to get rid of it."

Sarah gasped, that was terrible! She knew that things had been difficult between Beth and David lately, but why would she want to get rid of their baby?

Before she had time to voice her opinions to David he walked away. He probably didn't want to talk about it, Sarah reasoned, after all, who would?

* * *

When Beth awoke the next morning she was in her own bed. Somebody had carried her back upstairs and gently wrapped the covers around her. She looked around the room, early morning sunlight was pouring through her window and David was sleeping in the chair next to her bed, his hand clasped in hers. She gently pulled her hand away in order to push away the hair that was matted to her face, but despite her efforts the movement roused him from his slumber.

"Hey" he smiled at her, more warmly than he had for a long time.

"Hey" she smiled back gingerly, now that she was fully awake the feeling was starting to seep back into her body.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, passing her a glass of water, which the dehydrated Beth gulped down "I bet you have the mother of all hangovers" he remarked, sounding almost brittle.

"Did it work?" she suddenly asked, she needed to know what had happened last night "is it gone?"

"No, Beth" he told her softly

She sat up and whispered something in his ear. Something that she couldn't bare to say to him out loud. She was glad that she couldn't see his face, because she knew that, like her own, his heart was breaking.

"Please David…" she started to ask, clasping his hand, but what ever her request was going to be she couldn't go through with it "just go" she finished.

Without saying another word David got up and left her room.

* * *

Sarah was worried about David.

She was fairly justified in her worrying, as she knew that the rest of the party, working their way towards the library in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, were worried too. The fact that David was chattering away as if he didn't have a care in the world, didn't help. In fact it was only making it worse.

"And then the fireys turned up", he was telling them about the last time he had been to the castle. "So as you can imagine, we all just turned and ran like hell."

"You know" said Rhett "you're not really filling us with confidence here!"

The others laughed.

Sarah looked at David, her eyes filled with concern as they met his, but before she had chance to speak he cut her off "Don't Sarah, just don't." He increased his pace and soon he was quite a way ahead. There was no way that he was going to talk about it.

"Is he alright?" Rhett asked Sarah, concerned.

"I don't know" she replied sadly.

He slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. The gesture was reassuring.

Hand in hand they kept walking, and soon they reached the hedge mazes. It had been decided yesterday morning that a small group, led by David and Sarah would head over to the Castle, to see if they could find the Goblin King's library and hopefully some information that they could use against the King and Queen.

Sarah hadn't been in the labyrinth proper since she had wished Toby away, over a year ago. It was making her feel uneasy, the high walls, so enclosed, not being able to see what was around the next corner. She felt uneasy, but the thing that was really making her stomach churn was the fact that; it was in the hedge mazes that she had first met Ludo.

Despite having seen with her own eyes the beast that he really was, Sarah still struggled to equate the sweet cuddly giant with the monster that would rip out her entrails as soon as look at her.

Unlike David's last trip to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, the journey was fairly peaceful, taking just over an hour for them to reach the city gates. Rhett used the time to tell stories of his childhood, being raised in a medieval castle, his tales fascinated Sarah, and Sarah's stories of street cars and skyscrapers fascinated him.

"No!" Rhett was shocked "you're making that up"

"No, really" Sarah argued "people really have walked on the moon."

Soon the path they were following stopped twisting and turning and became wider, it wasn't just a route through a maze anymore; it was the main road into the Goblin City. There were many roads into the city, each fraught with danger, the roads were used by Goblins daily and the other, more menacing, inhabitants of the Labyrinth laid in wait for them just out of sight.

This was the most dangerous part of their journey.

The group had been walking in silence for over ten minutes; they didn't want to draw attention to themselves, when Sarah saw something. She wasn't even sure she had seen something, just an orange blur to her right, hidden in some bushes. Panicking, she grabbed David's sleeve, and when he turned to face her she mouthed the word 'RUN'. He didn't have to be told twice. Sarah and David leapt into action, their feet pounding the hard earth, the rest of the group following them.

They ran and ran until they felt like their heart would give out and their lungs would bust. Their feet continued to pound the pavement and yet, they did not stop running. To stop running would be the last thing that they ever did.

Eventually they reached a fork in the road. To the right lay a path back into the hedge mazes, where they could probably loose the beast in its endless twists and turns and then back to the encampment, having found nothing. To the left lay the Goblin City and beyond that the Castle and the library, but it was a straight road, they would have to be able to outrun the beast and they couldn't keep up this gruelling pace for long.

There wasn't really a choice which way to take. The encampment had rules, strict rules, to guarantee that at least half the group would survive; if a group was being chased, at the first available opportunity split up. It made sense. The beast could only chase after half the group.

"Rhett and Sarah. Left" David panted the instructions "Dean, Phil, Tom. Right."

So the group split and David, Rhett and Sarah found themselves the only ones continuing to the library.

About 50 feet after the fork in the road there was a small outcrop of rock, David nodded to them and they ducked behind it, waiting to see which path the beast would choose. Sarah sucked in breath desperately, her lungs and legs already aching, she was breathing hard, preparing her body, should they have to run again. The three of them were peeking over the top of the rock, frantically trying to stay hidden, if the beast were to catch sight of them it would definitely give chase. For once luck was with them. Sarah watched silently as the beast lumbered up to the fork in the road; not seeing their hiding place he decided to go hunting in the hedge mazes. Breathing a sigh of relief they continued on their way.

* * *

The rest of the journey to the Castle was completed quite uneventfully. Still mindful that the beast was prowling, neither Sarah, nor Rhett, nor David felt much like talking. Within half an hour they had arrived at the gates to the Goblin City, unlike Sarah's first visit to the capital, there was no guard posted there today. With the exception of a group of the larger Goblins throwing stones, their passing through was barely noted.

They snuck into the castle through an open window and made their way up three flights of stairs, down a long corridor, taking the third door on the left, then back down two flights of stairs. They paused and hid seven times, believing that they could hear the sound of the Goblin Queen's skirts floating.

Eventually they made it to the library. It wasn't the vast room that Sarah had been expecting, walls filled with books from the floors to the towering ceiling. Instead it was a fairly pokey little room, small and dark, with old dilapidated books perched on shelves that looked like they would fall apart at the slightest nudge. "Well then," said David "lets get reading."

It was David that found the book and in years to come he regretted it, because in his mind, anything could have been better than the events that followed. The information that they had been looking for was in a large book, leather bound and written on vellum, the title simply said 'HISTORY'.

"Sarah" he said "I've found out what happened to the humans, the ones that used to live in the castle."

"What?"

He handed the book to her and her arms sagged under its weight, it must have been over a thousand pages long. "Read the last ten pages or so" he told her.

* * *

She picked up the book and started to read, so engrossed in the book that she didn't see another figure join them.

"Well, Well. What do we have here?" a voice drawled lazily from the doorway. "What in the Underground could you possibly be doing here?"

"We were just looking around" said Sarah, tucking the volume behind her, trying to seem casual, but failing miserably.

"Yes" piped up Rhett "Sarah said that she had never been in the castle, so I thought I'd show it to her." It was a very transparent lie. Sarah knew it, Rhett knew it, and the Goblin King knew it. After all, Sarah _had_ been in the castle before.

"The question still remains" said the Goblin King "what are you five doing in _my_ personal library?" he asked coolly "Looking for summer reading material perhaps? A romance" he winked at Sarah "a thriller" he now pointed his eyes at Rhett, then turned his attention to David "or perhaps a murder mystery?"

"If you don't want us here, Your Highness" said David recklessly, the last two words dripping with loathing "we'll head on home." They started towards the door.

"Wait right there" the King replied, authority ringing out. Everybody stopped in their tracks.

Panic coursed through Sarah's veins. _Please make him go away_, she thought _just make him leave._ Her heart was beating faster now and beads of perspiration started to appear on her brow.

The Goblin King started to approach, "Sarah my dear," he ran a gloved hand across her cheek "you look awfully flustered, what _have_ you been reading?"

Sarah said nothing.

"Show me" he commanded.

She turned around slowly, but instead of reaching for 'HISTORY' she reached for the book lying next to it. She handed him 'An Encyclopaedia of Firey Behaviour' silently.

He tossed the book away, disinterested and moved closer to Sarah, moving his arm to rest on the bookshelf behind her. She tried to step backwards, but there was nowhere for her to go. "Sarah" he traced his fingers along the line of her jaw "a pretty girl like you shouldn't be reading a dull book like this, there's much more to life," he bent forward and whispered into her ear, his voice low and seductive "I could give you everything you desire…if you were to desire me."

"Let her go" to Sarah's surprise it wasn't David that spoke up for her, it was Rhett. Sarah sank to her knees in relief.

"The knight in shining armour," he smiled at Rhett sardonically "how sweet."

Then, all of a sudden, the King lost interest in them. He was whimsical like that Sarah thought. With a simple wave of the hand, not only had they been dismissed, but they found themselves back at the encampment.

"That was kind of him" Rhett was surprised.

"No it wasn't" corrected David "he didn't want us reading any more of that book – I doubt Sarah fooled him." He turned his attention to Sarah "Did you finish reading it?"

"No, he came before I could read more than a couple of pages" she saw David's shoulders sag in defeat "which is why I brought them with me" as she finished she held up a handful of paper, that had been ripped from a very old book.

"Sarah, you are a genius!" Rhett picked her up and spun her round. When he put her down their faces were very close. "We have to tell the others" he said, stepping back.

"No" replied David, his voice sad "I want to tell Beth first."

"Okay" said Sarah quietly, not really understanding, David had been going out of his way to avoid her for weeks, and he was almost making a point of not asking for her opinion on any topic.

"Sarah, could you go and find her for me, I want to go wash this grime off my face before I speak to her"

"Sure" she agreed softly, placing his arm on her shoulder.

* * *

After a few enquiries Sarah found out that Beth was in the woods, a little to the west of the Encampment. Despite the fact that her feet hurt from her trek to the castle that afternoon, Sarah decided to go look for Beth straight away.

It didn't take long to find her.

Sarah wandered into a section of the forest that she had always liked. A small clearing, which on sunny days let bright light filter down through the leaves, giving the forest a safe, airy feel. Today it wasn't sunny and this area of the forest was as dull as any other. The fall was coming and the leaves were just beginning to change colour, most no longer lush green but yellowing slightly, while some had changed to burnt oranges and vibrant reds. In the middle was a small mound, raised about six feet off the ground.

It was at the bottom of the mound that Sarah first saw Beth sprawled onto the floor. As she watched, the older girl picked herself up, climbed up to the top of the mound and launched herself off. A few minutes later she repeated the action.

Before last night, Beth's actions would have puzzled Sarah. But now she thought that she understood. Beth didn't want the baby and she was trying to get rid of it.

Sarah started forward and stepped on a cracking twig and Beth spun round, now aware of her audience.

"David sent me to find you" Sarah said apologetically.

"Did he now?" Beth sounded like she really couldn't care less.

"Don't you want the baby?" Sarah asked, not really understanding the motive behind Beth's erratic behaviour, after all David was a decent enough guy.

"Of course I don't want the baby!" Beth practically screamed at her, scraping back the hair that had gotten stuck onto the blood now running from her temple, before continuing "How do you think I got stuck in this godforsaken place to begin with?" not waiting for an answer she carried on "Because let some goddamn bastard knock me up, that's how!"

With that she turned and headed back towards the encampment. Sarah followed.


	11. Chapter 11

When Sarah got back to the encampment with Beth, she was greeted with a solemn and weary looking David. He handed the pages of the book back to Sarah and instructed her not to let anyone else in the encampment read them until Beth had seen them.

Despite thinking his behaviour was a little odd, she didn't say anything. Instead she settled herself down at the base of a tree and began to read.

The pages were written in diary form, though there was no mention of who the author was. Due to the impartial nature of the information and the neat, orderly script, which covered the pages, Sarah was inclined to think it the writing of a clerk or other record-keeping official.

_November 17__th_

_As we expected, last night, King Jareth took the girl, Odette, as a lover. The girl was summoned before the council this morning to discuss the matter. Though she was embarrassed, and blushed frequently when questioned, she confirmed that the King took his pleasure with her twice last night before taking his leave. _

_Altogether, I believe the girl has behaved well._

_December 9__th_

_The King's interest in Odette has not yet begun to wane, as we expected it would. Instead he still visits her chambers at least twice a week and he has lavished three silk dresses and numerous jewels on the girl, ensuring that she outshines all other humans. This is suprising to many, for while Odette is a sweet girl, there are far prettier and more interesting ladies present at court. The Queen pretends not to have noticed the affair, which bodes well for the girl as she threw one of Odette's predecessors from the top balcony and I would hate to see Odette having the same fate. _

_January 27th_

_Today Odette requested a meeting with the council, which is highly unusual, as traditionally the King's mistress should wait to be summoned. Soon after her arrival she informed the council that she believed herself to be with child. She says that she has not bled for over two months. After further questioning she stated that the only possible candidate for the father was King Jareth. _

_April 11__th_

_A rather strange event has been reported to the council this week. It was seen by a young boy, aged fourteen or so. While he was wandering in the hedge mazes, he came across a man, whom he had never seen before, not an alarming event in itself and it was assumed that he had wandered into the path of one of the wishers. The strange part of his tale, is that the man he saw, sat astride a huge, four legged beast, the likes of which we have never seen in the Labyrinth. _

_Markam researched the creature in one of King Jareth's nooks and it was discovered that the creature that this boy saw is a common beast of burden called a horse. _

_Search parties have been sent out, to find the man and his horse, but no trace of them have been found. _

_May 17th_

_Odette's pregnancy continues to progress well and the King is attentive to her every need. Last week she had a craving for roasted pumpkin, a dish that, unfortunately, is out of season until after the baby will be born. Yet King Jareth re-ordered time to fetch them for her._

_  
Strange events still continue to occur in the Underground, no less than seventeen people have reported looking out of the window and viewing another world, from the descriptions we believe this world to be the Aboveground. _

_It is the belief of the council, as well as my personal belief, that there is some sort of link between Odette's pregnancy and the recent events. Therefore the council have decided to send spies into the secret passageways of the Castle Beyond the Goblin City to eavesdrop on the King and Queen. _

_June 30th_

_Odetta's pregnancy is now readily visible and she makes no effort to hide it. She and the baby are in good health and I believe she is looking to the birth with some apprehension, mostly with the same fears of all expectant mothers, after all childbirth is a dangerous time. _

_I also believe that she is concerned about her future role in the child's life. Odette informed the council that yesterday she received a visit from the Queen. According to Odette this is the first time that the Queen has acknowledged her as the King's mistress. She put her hand on Odette's belly and referred to the child as being "her dearest son". Naturally this has quite distressed the girl and last night she worked herself up into such as state that we had to send for King Jareth to calm her._

_The King has given us his assurance that Her Majesty will not be visit Odetta again. _

_July 3rd_

_Today was the day that our spies paid off. Jacob overheard a conversation between the King and Queen. _

_I cannot begin to forsee the ramifications of this action and I wish to the Gods that we did not know what we now know. _

_It is common knowledge that Odette, the King's mistress is pregnant with his child. However, what has been kept from us, is the fact that the child Odette shall bear will not be her own. It will be the son of the Goblin Queen, the son that was taken from her so many years ago. This alone is an unparalleled catastrophe, our people still speak of the death and destruction that came during his reign._

_What is worse is that the birth of this child will undo the magic separating this land from the mortal realm; the aboveground and underground will once more merge together. _

_This cannot be allowed to occur. Even now the council is convening to decide what is to be done._

_  
July 5__th_

_It has taken two days of discussion and the council has finally made its decision. We cannot sit idly by and let the son of the Goblin King and Queen be reborn. Nor can we let the Kingdoms of the aboveground and the underground rejoin._

_It is with heavy hearts that the decision was announced: Odette must be put to death. _

_July 6th_

_Late last night we informed Odette of her fate. To give the girl credit she did not cry or try to plead with the council. Perhaps she knew that either course of action would be of little help. Instead she just became very pale and I believe the girl to be more than a little afraid , but she does understand the necessity of her death. _

_As Odette is seven months pregnant it is imperative we act with haste, lest the child be born early. Therefore we have given Odette one week in which to prepare herself and to get her affairs in order.  
_

_July 13th_

_The deed is done. Today we sit with heavy hearts. Odette and her child are dead and even as I write, her family have started the funeral rites. The girl went to her death calmly and with honour. The executioner was very good, dispatching Odette with one stroke and I am heartily glad that she did not overly suffer. _

_We are now waiting with baited breath for retribution from their Majesties, for we know that their wrath will be terrible. _

This was the last entry that had been written in the man's carful, considered script. The last few lines were written in an angry scrawl, the dark red of old, dried blood and somehow Sarah knew that it had been written by the Goblin Queen.

THEN I FUCKING KILLED THEM ALL

That was it. This was how the human population of the Castle Beyond the Goblin City had died.

As Sarah closed the book, she felt sick. She understood everything.

It wasn't David's child.

Beth was pregnant with the Goblin King's child.

She was pregnant with his child and its birth would bring about the end of the known world.

She looked up and she saw David and Beth walking over. Beth was ghostly pale, as if the news David had imparted had driven the life from her.

"I'm so sorry" she said to Beth, handing the book over to her. Beth looked right through her, it wasn't malicious and Sarah understood she _needed_ to see that book. She needed to understand what the future held for her. She desperately needed to know what was growing inside of her.

Sarah and David watched her read, a silent vigil that lasted nearly an hour. When Beth was done she was nearly in tears. "That poor girl, that poor brave girl."


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

In silence the three of them sat, David holding Beth's left hand tenderly and Sarah holding her right in a more supportive gesture. There was so much that needed to be discussed, but yet none of them had a thing to say.

* * *

"What are we going to do Beth" after an almost unbearably long period of silence, Sarah spoke.

Beth's voice was hoarse from crying "I wanted rid of this _thing_ inside me, long before I knew what would happen. We carry on as before, I'll do away with it somehow."

David reached over and pulled Beth's other hand from Sarah's grasp, turning Beth to face him before he spoke, his voice low and gravely "Whatever happens Beth, I will be by your side. If you need _anything_, I am here."

Tears leaked from Beth's eyes "I need you" her voice was barely more than a whisper "I need you, David."

Feeling uncomfortable intruding on this private scene, but unwilling to move and bring attention to her presence, Sarah turned away. Yet, from the corner of her eye, she still saw David lean forward and place a tender kiss on Beth's forehead. She also didn't miss Beth grabbing David's hair in her hands and pulling his lips down to meet hers and a bruising kiss. At this point she decided that maybe discretion was the better part of valour, and decided to sneak off.

But the final thing that Sarah didn't miss was David kissing Beth back tenderly, an action that seemed as natural to him as breathing.

* * *

Later that evening, as the sun was setting, in another part of the Labyrinth, in a tower, high above the Goblin City the Lord and Master of the whole Underground was also sitting in silence. He perched on a windowsill watching the sun go down thoughtfully. He was pondering the afternoon's events carefully, _what had those foolish humans been looking for in the library_, he was sure that they hadn't been studying the behaviour of fierys. A sudden more urgent thought came to him. He stopped thinking about what they might have been looking _for_. Then he started worrying about what they had_ found._

In a second he was on his way to the library, hurtling down the stairs at inhuman speed. Seconds passed before he was in the room that they had all occupied only hours ago. He strode across the room to the spot where he had confronted Sarah, her sweet scent still lingering slightly on the air.

He bent down and looked at the books on the bottom shelf, one was not in it's correct place he noted. He picked up the volume marked HISTORY curiously, it wasn't a title he had come across for a long time, opening the cover he flicked through a few pages before hissing in annoyance, there were pages missing. He flicked through the book hurriedly, if the mortals knew about Odette, all could be lost again, and he had worked so hard this time to hold together the seams of the universe.

He swore in a language lost to man centuries ago.

The mortals knew.

* * *

With a swirl of cape and glitter Jareth was suddenly standing in the middle of the clearing.

"Shit" David whispered under his breath, only just loud enough for Sarah to hear. Turning to face the Goblin King, she echoed his sentiments. She looked at him, panic in her eyes. After another failed attempt at dislodging the baby, Beth had wandered into the forest and there was no-one there who could or would deal with him.

"He likes you" David hissed as he abruptly pushed her towards Jareth.

Terrified, her whole body shaking, Sarah spoke "May I help you, Your Majesty".

"I'm looking for Beth."

"She's not here."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know" she lied through trembling lips.

He strode over to her and grabbed her by the neck, his movements impossibly fast.

"Where is she?" Jareth growled, tightening his grip on Sarah's airway. She glanced sideways at David and he nodded at her. With or without their help The Goblin King would find Beth, there was nothing to be gained by denying him.

"She's in the forest" Sarah gasped out.

"Where in the forest precisely?" his grip on her neck loosened slightly.

"A clearing….about half a mile north of the river."

He let her go and without another glance King Jareth strode into the forest and out of sight.

* * *

It didn't take Jareth long to track down his quarry. Beth was sitting in the centre of the clearing, her long legs crossed and her eyes closed. He took the time to observe her without being seen in turn… Things were progressing well, her belly was beginning to round gently, but only enough that you would notice if you were looking for it. His eyes flitted over the rest of her body, until they came to her arms, she was bleeding. The cuts weren't deep, large stretches of grazes, but her arms were dirty and cuts can easily become infected.

Instantly he was by her side.

When she opened her eyes Beth couldn't help but scream slightly. "Jareth" she hissed "you scared the life out of me."

"What happened to your arms" he demanded.

"I…. I fell" her hesitation was slightly unnatural.

He took hold of her arms and ran his fingertips over the grazes, which disappeared at his touch "In future you should be more careful" he informed her curtly.

"In future I will be" she replied calmly. She knew that there was nothing that he could do to her now. "Was there something that you wanted Jareth?" she sighed.

"Perhaps there was something you wanted to tell me?" he suggested eagerly.

She paused to gather her breath slowly. He knew, he already knew. He had just come for confirmation of the fact. Her normal diplomacy gone, she blatantly lied, "No Jareth" she replied "there really isn't."

"Beth, come inside" he pleaded gently "It's cold here."

"You know, I can't even feel it." Talking to him now, she was so tired. "I think you finally broke me Jareth."

He looked at her properly now, talking more care to look over her than he had in weeks and he noticed what he had failed to see.

The strong determined girl was slipping away. She held almost no attraction for him now, save that she was carrying his child. Her skin was very pale and dark circles ringed her red-tinged eyes, a sign that restful sleep had eluded her at least.

"You look tired" he told her caressing her skin gently. She froze at the contact. The way he could pretend to care was eerily realistic.

"I'm exhausted" she told him honestly.

With great care he scooped her up into his arms and transported them back to the encampment.

* * *

Sarah and David had hardly moved from their previous spot when the Goblin King reappeared in the encampment. Jareth winked at David "I'll just go and put this little lady to bed."

It was several minutes later before Jareth returned, and during this time, Sarah, and most of the encampment, decided that they were better ducking for cover until he had left. David stayed put, standing guard over Beth's hut.

* * *

"Go and catch a falling star,  
Get with child a mandrake root,"

David heard the Goblin King's voice before he saw him appear. He walked through the years, confident, almost smug. David thought he looked far too pleased with himself.

"Tell me where all past years are,  
Or who cleft the Devil's foot,

All strange wonders that befell thee,"

Jareth grinned challengingly as he continued.

"And swear  
No where  
Lives a woman true, and fair"

"Are you going to quote Donne to me all day Your Majesty, because I have things to be doing, you know."

Jareth threw back his head and roared with laughter, to David's surprise and dismay "Oh David. Sometimes you make me want to cry. You are just so funny."

"Go to hell."

Like the flick of a switch, Jareth's demeanour changed, "I bet it just eats you up" he was cold and dark now, with the relentlessness of a winter storm "at night, when you're alone in your cold bed. It eats you up, doesn't it. Knowing while you're waiting at home, she's with me." He grinned

Finally loosing his cool, David threw himself at the Goblin King. But when he reached the spot where the Goblin King had been standing there was nothing but air, and the faint sound of laughing on the wind.

* * *

Jareth materialised in the Queen's parlour.. She was wearing a pale blue dress, positively dripping with lace and ribbons and was currently on her knees on the floor, fussing over the beast, as if it was a fluffy little puppy

"Who's a good boy then?" she cooed at Ludo "Who's his Mama's good boy?" she ruffled the fur on his face "You are….yes you are."

"The deals off" Jareth told her.

"What deal" she replied absentmindedly as she stroked the Ludo's tummy.

"He" Jareth emphasised his point by nudging the side of the beast with a booted toe "can go back to the encampment." Ludo sat up to attention, nearly knocking the Queen over in his eagerness. "But let me warn you." Jareth bent down to his level. "The girl Beth, she's not for you. Hurt her and you will wish for death."

"Ovverrs?" Ludo drawled.

"Do what you want with them" replied Jareth, loosing interest.

"Mama's good boy" the Queen blew a kiss at him as he left.


	13. Chapter 13

"When Beth's baby is born" said David to Sarah "it will basically mean the end of the world. And I mean our world, not this one, the aboveground."

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"I know. I read the pages too."

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David and Sarah were talking together, their voices low, hushed and urgent. Beth was sleeping in the room next door and neither of them wanted to wake her. She had been crying for hours, whether due to stress, hormones or a combination of both, Sarah was unsure. Beth had eventually exhausted herself and David had insisted that she went and laid down to rest.

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"Beth won't allow that to happen" said David. "I don't know what lengths she will go to or what she's prepared to do, but she will not let the birth of this baby destroy all that she holds dear."

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"But it's her baby. Surely there must be a way around this. She honestly cannot think that killing her child is the best way to stop it."

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"It's not her baby" he said sadly. "She conceived it and she's carrying it, but that baby is no more Beth's child than it is yours or mine Sarah."

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"But what are we going to do."

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"You know the answer as well as I do. As barbaric as the thought is, we both know what has to happen…." he trailed off, unwilling to voice the fact that they both knew.

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The end would justify the means. They could not allow the child to be born.

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As David and Sarah talked deep into the night and as Beth slept on soundly, none of them had any idea of the danger that was headed towards them. Deep in the innermost heart of the Labyrinth the beast had been set loose and he was hungry.

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He made his way thorough the gates of the castle, which opened on his command, and into the Goblin City. As he travelled through the city the goblins scurried away into their houses, bolting the doors and hiding under their beds. Though the beast

generally preferred sweeter meat, he had been known to turn to the goblin population when he couldn't be bothered to hunt and the goblins hid, lest his hunger make him turn on them.

.

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But the beast didn't stop.

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The beast continued through the city gates and through into the junkyard. The Agnes hid, camouflaging herself among the junk that she so treasured, shaking so hard that she shattered eight of her most treasured porcelain tea cups.

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And the beast didn't stop.

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Sir Didymus didn't see the beast approach, he was asleep at his post in the bog. Ambrosius heard him though, and as the creature passed he cowered under the newly-built bridge until the monster had passed.

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And the beast still didn't stop.

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The fireys huddled together in fear, up a large tree, knowing full well that he could easily climb. They had gathered together all their limbs and heads, knowing full well that a single finger could give away their hiding place.

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But the beast didn't stop.

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There was only one person who had ever witnessed the beast being let loose on the human population of the labyrinth. He had not run faster than all of his friends. He had not hidden better than everybody else. He had not been spared because the beast or his mistress had felt pity. Duncan had survived for one simple reason; by the time the beast reached him, he could not eat anymore.

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As the beast passed Duncan's hut. Duncan stifled a low moan. He knew what dreadful business was about tonight and he shuddered at the thought of the bloodshed that was to occur that night. He remembered the last time that the King and Queen had allowed the beast to run loose, one by one, men, women and children had all fallen to the hunger of the beast. The massacre that had occurred had never been forgotten by the collective consciousness of the labyrinth. Though the rain had eventually washed away all traces of spilt blood. The evil that had occurred could never be undone.

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For the first time in 20 years, Duncan remembered what it was like to feel fear. He remembered the screams; the agony; the sounds people made when they were torn limb from limb; the crunch of bones. But the one sound that would haunt him for the rest of his days, the sound that invaded his dreams and made him wake screaming. The sound of pleasure, of sheer contentment. The sound the beast made when it was finally full.

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As Beth and many others continued to sleep in peace, the beast made his way into the clearing of the encampment, gurgling to himself happily. It had been many a long year since he had tasted the sweetness of human blood and tonight he would gorge himself on many victims.

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The guards on duty had grown lax of late and didn't see the beast at first. They knew of Beth's arrangement with the Goblin King and they believed that this gave them a modicum of security, they thought they could trust King Jareth. On both counts they were wrong.

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The beast crept deeper into the clearing. Slowly and quietly he climbed a tree with large, sturdy branches. He crept onto the platform where he dispatched the first guard quickly and silently. He didn't stop to feed, nor to suck the marrow from the bones of the guard. There would be time for that later. When they were all dead he could feast at his leisure.

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He managed to kill one more guard before he was discovered and the alarm was raised. Screams echoed out into the night. The beast hadn't had this much fun in years.

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Sarah was just about to go to bed when she first heard the commotion. She pulled her boots back on, and headed out of the hut when heard someone calling her name frantically. "Sarah! Sarah!" it was Rhett "Sarah, thank God I've found you!" Rhett seized her by the hand and started dragging her along the platform.

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Sarah let go of his hand and stopped "what's going on?" she asked, feeling sick to her stomach, all around her were screams and cries of terror and pain.

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Rhett grabbed her by the wrist and continued moving "We have to get you out of here" he replied, not really answering her question.

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Sarah wrenched herself free. "I am not going anywhere with you, not until you tell me what is happening."

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"Sarah," he pleaded "we don't have time. It's the beast and you have to get out of here before he kills you."

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Sarah froze in shock, Rhett took full advantage of her terror and continued to pull her towards safety.

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A few moments later they were climbing down the ladder to the shelter of the trees. Sarah looked back to see the beast in full force, killing everyone he passed. Rhett hauled her into the covering darkness of the trees. "Stay here Sarah" he instructed her fiercely.

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"Where are you going?" she asked dazed.

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"To fight the beast" she looked at his waist, there was a sword there. She had never seen it before.

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"No!" she grabbed his arm and stopped him from walking away "he'll kill you!"

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He pulled Sarah even closer and pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was gentle and desperate and over far too soon. "I have to make sure you're safe" he told her, he sounded worried, "and I have to help the others."

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Sarah looked over his shoulders, where a group of men, led by David and Paul, were gathering weapons and heading back towards the beast.

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"Come back to me" she commanded.

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Rhett squeezed her hand before running off with the others, back up the ladders. Sarah watched as Sabrina, a quiet girl she had never really spoken to was ripped apart limb by limb and she vomited after she watched him remove great chunks of flesh with his teeth.

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"Come on Sarah" Katherine called, "we need to find somewhere safe. "

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"There's nowhere else to go" she replied unhappily "this is our home." So they stood at the foot of the great tree, watching and waiting for their fate to be decided.

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Beth was awoken by the screams, soon after Rhett had started to drag Sarah away. It didn't take her long to hear the cries. It took her only moments to understand that Jareth had broken his word. It took her less than a second to decide to find David. She ran from hut to hut, calling his name but he was nowhere to be seen. She stumbled as she ran, twisting her ankle, but ignored the pain and continued on her quest. The night air was cool and her breath hung around her as mist as she ran. Until she took a wrong turn.

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And found herself face to face with the beast.

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There was a body at his feet, the flesh so mangled that she couldn't tell who it was. His fur was matted with blood and gore so much that it stuck to him in horrifying clumps. Beth fought back the bile that was rising in her throat.

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He came towards her, gurgling happily. She looked delectable, juicy, sweet.

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"So you're going to kill me now are you?" She prompted boldly, her features poised. So the beast would kill her. It would be over. There would be no more hard decisions to make. The choice was taken out of her hands and it would be quick.

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The beast paused. This was the girl. The one that belonged to the Goblin King. He was no fool. If he hunted this one all that would be left of him in the morning would be ash. If hunted, this girl would be his ending.

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The beast turned and walked away.

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"I thought not" said Beth cockily. "Jareth may not think on me, but no harm will ever be allowed to come to this child." She said the words without thinking, but it was the truth, Jareth and his Queen would never allow them to hurt the baby, and they had no idea of Beth's attempts to rid herself of it.

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The men were regrouping now, they gathered their weapons together and went to hunt the monster, that was in turn hunting them.

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They were little more than a mob, a rabble armed with pitchforks and torches, only a select few, like Rhett had ever managed to find or forge proper weapons in the underground.

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They were climbing up the ladders, back into the heart of the bedlam when the beast finally came to them. It jumped from the raised platform and landed with a thud. Panic spread throughout the men, how was such a fiend to be defeated.

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"Archers" bellowed David, to those who had made it up the ladders. Moments later they responded by sending a dozen arrows whooshing through the sky. Half of them landed true.

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He lashed out at the closest attackers, but they were wary and darted out of harms way. David seeing an opportunity, grabbed a torch from a frightened youth and held it to the Beast's thick coat. Seconds later Ludo was ablaze. Those who watched, sickened by the acrid smell of hair and blood, could not tell where his fur stopped and where the flames began.

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The Beast, having never known such agony opened its jaws and howled. He renewed his assault with greater fury. David was knocked to the ground, where he lay unmoving, his head covered in blood With a single swipe of his great paw, two more men were felled and another succumbed to his razor sharp teeth..

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More arrows felled and the Beast began to fall back, now defensive rather than offensive. Seeing their one opportunity the men pushed forward. If they failed, not only would they be ripped to pieces, everyone would fall – they had to do this now.

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The beast stood with his back to Rhett, busy with the soon-to-be-corpses in front of him. Rhett stepped forwards, sword in hand, the beast turned, unable to see the danger in front of him until it was too late.

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Rhett swung, his blade sharp and his aim true.

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Moments later the beast's head fell to the ground and rolled a little way down the slight hill. It stopped his vacant eyes reflecting the starlight.

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It was over.

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The Goblin King approached the fallen body of the beast. He nudged it gently with his booted foot. The beast didn't move.

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"Well I didn't see that coming." He announced to Sarah.

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"What did you expect to happen? Us to just sit around and wait to get slaughtered?"

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The Goblin King threw back is head and laughed "Well, to be honest yes. I expected to get here and to see the beast feasting on your insides. This is a surprise. But I must admit, Sarah, that in your case it's a pleasant surprise. I find myself…." he paused "…pleased that you haven't been eviscerated."

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"Well" said Sarah sarcastically "I'm glad that you're glad."

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"Well I suppose I should go and break the news to my wife. She will be most distraught. But I think I will drop by and see you in a couple of days my dear."

.

She didn't reply. She had no idea of what to say. Even after all this time the Goblin King frightened her so much that she felt herself trembling.

.

.

"You know, Sarah, I have a feeling that you and I are going to become very good friends."


	14. Chapter 14

The Goblin Queen was laying on the floor in the entrance hall with her legs resting on the wall above her, when Jareth arrived back at the castle. Her pale dress, almost the same colour as the stones below her, billowed around her knees allowing him a long glimpse of her shapely calves. It had been a long while since he had seen any part of his wife unclothed. Millenia together allowed him to know her body as intimately as he knew his own and long ago their passion for each other burnt as brightly for the sun, but everything fades eventually. Reflecting back on their time together, he felt the familiar stirrings of desire. But now was unfortunately, not the time.

"What are you doing my dear?" he asked with an amused smile.

"Waiting." She replied, her voice as sill as a summer breeze. "All I have left to do now is wait. The nursery has been painted, the cradle is prepared. So I wait. "

" It won't be long now" he said soothingly, his voice lulling her, the sound of molten honey.

"I know." She looked up at him suddenly "Ludo should have been back by now. He knows I like to hear all about his fun. The naughty boy."

"You know I have never understood why you were so fond of that overgrown carpet" he told her, inspecting his nails. "He had no subtlety."

Her gaze narrowed "What do you mean by it... were?... Had? "

"I mean what I say."

She stood up so quickly that a mortal wouldn't have seen it. "Dont play games with me Jareth." She hissed. " I know that you can take words and tie knots in them. And you know fine well that if I cannot undo a knot, I'll take a knife and cut it open"

"The Beast is dead my love" he told her plainly.

"How?"

Before he could speak again she interrupted "The mortals".

And then she was gone.

Jareth was left standing alone. Something did not feel right. His wife's fury was an awesome thing to behold, her hot temper left far more devastating consequences than his own cold anger. Of the two of them Jareth was far more calculating and generally more cautious. He was already deep into the preparation of a back up plan, incase things did not go their way.

He shook his head as if trying to remove the doubts. This time would be different.

On the other side of the Labyrinth, deep in the forest, Sarah watched the beast's body burn. They had buried their own at daybreak and then turned to the task of removing the remains of their fallen foe. He was too heavy to lift, so they had built the pyre around him. Rhett had unceremoniously thrown the head on top as Dave tossed a torch into the pile of kindling that had been stacked above the body. The fire has quickly taken hold and the body had been burning for over an hour now.

Sarah watched the flames in silence. Rhett had come to keep her company for a while, but gone away again when he couldn't coax her into conversation. It wasn't the screams and the blood and the burning flesh that disturbed her, but the words of the Goblin King '_I have the feeling that you and I are going to become very good friends'_ they swam around in her head until she wanted to wretch and scourge the inside of herself clean. While Sarah was a million miles away from being experienced, she knew exactly what the Goblin King was hinting at and it scared her more than blood and death.

Movement in the corner of her eye, so fast that for a moment she thought she had imagined it, startled Sarah from her thoughts. A swirl of skirts and blond hair. The Goblin Queen had come at last.

"Oh my darling" the Queen whispered. Sarah tried to back away slowly, but her movement only drew the attention of the immortal.

"What did you do to him?" the Queen snarled at her. Her eyes burnt like cold metal on a winters day and Sarah felt herself drawn inside them until she wanted to shiver.

"N..nothing" Sarah stammered wanting to run, but her legs betraying her. "He came in the night and I ran."

"Of course you did" she murmured, more to herself. "I don't know how I ever could have thought a lowly snivelling girl like you could have brought down such a magnificent creature. Of course you ran."

The Queen then turned, as if remembering Sarah was there, she addressed the wary girl directly. "Run along and give a message to your little friends. You tell them, that when I find out which of them was responsible for this" she paused and nodded at the burning body "I will use their head to decorate the entrance to my castle."

Sarah nodded before fleeing. She ran as fast as her legs could possibly carry her. Despite the fact that she was totally alone in the woods, Sarah kept turning back to ensure that she wasn't being followed. Totally preoccupied with the angry Queen that she had left behind her, she gave very little thought to what was up ahead. Which explained, why, when she hit another body, at full pelt, she was completely knocked off her feet.

As she went to stand, she looked up to find herself sprawled at the feet of the Goblin King.

"Hello again Sarah" he said chuckling. He was dressed today in green velvet. It clung to him like a shadow, warm and soft to the touch. Like a poisoned flower, the beauty hiding the deadliness within.

Sarah made no reply.

"My my, you are in a bit of a tizzy aren't you?" she still did not answer, so he kept talking "What could have gotten you into such a state." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet.

Sarah contemplated her answer, she could hardly tell him that she was running away from the embodiment of all that was cruel and heartless, wrapped up in the body of his evil wife. "Nothing" she muttered, eyes to the ground.

"Not very forthcoming today, are we? " his tone indicated that they were discussing nothing more benign than the weather. "Well I don't suppose you have seen my good lady wife?" Sarah blanched as he continued "I believe she was coming this way and she really didn't seem to happy."

"We had to kill him" Sarah blurted out "We didn't seek out a fight, we just wanted to live."

"An admirable desire, I grant you" he smirked "but a word to the wise Sarah, if you want to keep that pretty little heart of yours pumping. Move somewhere more defendable. My wife is rather irritated with the fact that this rabble, you insist on keeping company with, stabbed her baby substitute last night. And believe me, my wife is not pleasant when she's irritated."

Sarah nodded, still not really knowing what to say.

"And I think I can hear her dulcet tones now. Well I suppose I should go and see what she's doing." She was alone in the forest again and she released a breath that she didn't even know she was holding.

She didn't wait to see if he was coming back to her. Walking this time, her heart pounding in her chest, she turned and went back the way she came. Back towards the encampment. Back home.

"We cant stay here" Sarah blurted this out as soon as she returned. Rhett, David and Beth were sitting on the grass, exhaustion etched in every line on their faces. Beth was especially pale, dark circles giving evidence to the weariness that she felt.

"What are you talking about Sar?" David asked confused.

More words ringing through her head, words written in red in a very old book 'THEN I FUCKING KILLED THEM ALL'.

"After they killed Odette, she killed all of them" she tried to explain. "The humans in the castle, The Queen, she killed them. And we are just sitting here, waiting, for a very pissed off Queen to come and get us."

"The new door to the castle was finished yesterday" David said in agreement.

"Then we leave before nightfall" said Rhett.

Within the hour the camp was a hive of activity. They were abandoning their home, grabbing whatever they could carry and leaving. Most of their possessions were being left behind. Their only defence now was the great walls of the castle and they didn't know how long they had to get there. One by one they packed and left. Following the long road that led away from the Goblin city they walked in small groups, no more than 3 at a time. They didn't want to arouse suspicion, to draw attention would be fatal. Once again they needed to survive through secrecy.

Beth was the last one to leave.

She lingered behind to say goodbye to the only home that she had known for the last nine years. She had been little more than a child when she had arrived. A child and a mother herself. Overwhelmed and in a moment of weakness she wished the Goblins to take her daughter. And they did. she ran the labyrinth to take her back. But she failed. And so she stayed in the Labyrinth, until one day she caught the eye of the Goblin King. To this day she didn't really understand why he had chosen her, there were prettier girls and more experienced women among those in the encampment. It wasn't for her conversational skills either as Jareth had always taken very little interest in what she had to say. Sometimes she suspected that the Goblin King's real pleasure in their liaisons was the torment that she felt afterwards and the anguish that was on David's face every time she left the encampment. Or perhaps he had seen in her a healthy specimen of a human, who could simply carry his baby to term.

Summer had passed early that year, lasting little more than a few weeks and the colours of fall were already upon the forest. The trees had taken the most amazing hues, golden oranges; reds, the colour of fire and Beth's personal favourite, purples so dark that they almost looked black. She would miss it here, she thought.

David was waiting for her at the crossroads , but she lingered too long. Lost in her own mind, she

suddenly realised that she was not alone.

"What are you doing here?" Beth stammered.

"I've come to see my boy."

"It's not yours" said Beth in horror as the Goblin Queen approached her.

"A mother knows her child Beth" the Goblin Queen placed her hand on the girls stomach. The gesture was oddly disturbing. "You may have conceived and carried this child but he no more belongs to you than Jareth does. "

"I never wanted your husband."

"But you tried to take him none the less. And once my son is born, believe me you'll be sorry. You will beg me for death before the end."

"Get away from me" gasped Beth, stepping back quickly. "You stay away from me." She thrust her arm between them, as if that would do any good. As if the Goblin Queen could be restrained by physical force.

The Queen stepped forward.

Beth stepped back again and the Queen stepped forwards, a sick twisted dance. Beth lurched back, catching her foot in a tree root and began to fall. She saw the ground coming to meet her, the bulk of her stomach stopping her from moving fast enough to catch herself.

"Why wont you leave me alone" tears of frustration running down her cheeks. When she had landed it had really hurt.

"Really Darling" she looked up to see that the Goblin King was not addressing her "You need to be more careful. Pregnant humans are even more fragile than normal ones."

"Get up" said the Queen scornfully.

When Beth made no attempt to move, the Queen moved towards her threateningly and Beth sobbed even harder.

"LEAVE HER ALONE" David rushed back into the clearing and put himself between Beth and the livid Goblin Queen. "CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO HER?"

"Back away my love" murmered the Goblin King softly, gently pulling his wife away and disappearing into nothing.

David bent to the floor and wrapped his arms around the almost hysterical girl. "It's going to be okay Beth, it's going to be okay." He kept on whispering this into her hair desperately, even though he didn't believe it.

"What did you interfere for?" the Queen hissed at her husband as they returned to the castle.

"Simply because, when humans panic, they do the stupidest things. You remember the last attempt, don't you? "

"Yes."

"And the time before?" he let his question hang between them. Eventually the Queen nodded her agreement. "Let the girl be. All you have to do now is be patient. She hasn't got long left now and the boy…Daniel… or what ever his name is…he won't let any harm come to her."

The Queen relaxed "This time the outcome will be different" she seemed to be reassuring herself. "I will have my boy back soon."

"And then we can go home."


End file.
